Link's Trials
by Tollgatekeeper
Summary: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time reimagined in a more mature style. A short story where Link must face his fears and doubts and become a true hero. Link and Malon pairing.
1. Chapter 1

My second fan-fic. To go with my Mario story, I thought I'd try my hand at a Link tale, andbegan by contemplatinghow exactly Link would feel, knowing that the future of Hyrule rested with him.  
This story is more serious than my other one (_far_ more serious), is set in the world of The Ocarina of Time, and features a teenage Link.  
I do not own any of these characters.

* * *

Chapter 1: A True Hero?

The pale moon hung in the sky majestically, its light falling to the earth and making the shadows of trees stretch in elongated shadows across the ground. A strong wind howled through the branches of the trees, bending some of the smaller, more fragile plants to one side. Far off on the horizon dark clouds gathered, and the occasional streak of lightning brought with it the promise of rain to come.

Link, slouched on the grassy earth with his back to the trunk of a magnificent oak, shivered slightly. Hyrule sure was chilly tonight.

The teenager sighed and rubbed his cheek absent-mindfully with the back of his right hand. Lowering his hand, he brushed it against his neck and allowed his head to lean to the right, closing his eyes and taking some comfort in the feel of the sensation of his hand resting against his skin, as a child might do with his blanket.

At the moment Link did not look like any civilized child however. His face was streaked with splotches of mud, his green shirt ripped in places, and his pale trews faded with wear. Dirt, grime and dried blood all mixed together to create a bizarre type of camo.

In the distance arose the blood-thirsty cry of a wolf, followed by echoing howls from the members of its pack, and Link's eyes snapped open.

Quickly, he pulled his short sword from the sheath that was strapped to his side, and rested the tip of the sword in the soft earth beside him, ever mindful of the fact that many wild wolves in Hyrule had become accustomed to the taste of human flesh and blood.

Panting slightly, he scanned his surroundings. He was resting in a small ring of trees that was surrounded by empty plains all around. Beyond the plains, thicker forests grew in patches.

He looked to his right, where his horse Epona stood, nervously pawing at the ground with one hoof.

"Easy girl," he said, allowing his voice to appear soothing. He had found that it was not _what _you said to horses but how you said it that counted.

The horse calmed slightly.

Link sighed and rubbed at his forehead tiredly. He had told himself that he was just going to rest for five minutes and then would resume traveling to the nearest town to find an Inn he could rest at, but for some reason he felt too drained and exhausted to get up.

His stomach growled noisily, the hunger pains reminding him that his last proper meal must have been some days ago.

He knew he had a lot to do: he had to feed himself and his horse, get some rest, maybe buy some more equipment with whatever money he had left, and then he had to resume his quest to bring peace to Hyrule.

He chuckled mirthlessly. The idea that the fate of the land rested on his shoulders, a teenager of just fourteen, still amused him.

Sure, so far he had done okay-he was still alive, had a horse of his own, could fight well enough to defend himself, and had visited many parts of the land, but...

But it was all so hard. And he was alone.

Every day he woke up in some shabby Inn, or in some rocky field somewhere, wondering if this would be his last day alive; if the adventure would end here. He could feel the hopes and wishes of all the people of Hyrule on his shoulders, and he just knew that sooner or later he was bound to mess it up, and would let everyone down. As for finally facing Ganondorf, the menace that was threatening to plunge Hyrule into darkness? He couldn't do it.  
How was a teenager supposed to go up against a Gerudo, a grown man, a powerful fighter?

He half wished that he could somehow give up his quest, or pass it on to someone else, someone more capable. Suicide had even entered his mind several times.

He shifted his weight against the bark of the tree, trying to push the thought of suicide from his mind. He was not so down to seriously contemplate that yet.

But he sensed that, if things went on like this, he would eventually do something that would cause his quest to end. Anger suddenly flared up in him. It wasn't fair! Why should he, alone, have to do this?

Shaking his head bitterly, he told himself to cut it out. Thinking thoughts like this always caused him to circle around the problem endlessly, with no clear solution to it in sight.

The wind picked up even more, its icy breath running along the back of his neck and causing him to tighten his body up. It was obvious to him now that he was not going to get to the town tonight; he could not bring himself to mount Epona and brave the weather, especially if it was about to storm.

Epona whinnied and pawed the ground once more, as if she was signaling to Link that they should get going.

"Sorry girl," he muttered. "Looks like there won't be a roof over our head again tonight."

Link looked around, searching for a good place to make camp. There seemed to be none-the forests were too far away to ride to before the rain hit, and empty fields were the only other location he could see. It looked like his small clump of trees would have to do him for the night.

Link reached for his traveling bag, opened it, and examined the odds and ends inside. He had an old blanket, a rudimentary sleeping bag, some mushrooms he had found the other day, his boomerang and bow-and-arrow, his Ocarina, and one round bomb he had saved for emergencies. His sword and shield were always with him on his body.

He was about to unpack his sleeping bag when Epona bucked up wildly, her eyes wide with fear and her nostrils flaring. _Wolves!_ Link thought instantly, and whirled around quickly, his eyes searching the bases of the surrounding trees for movement.

Then he spotted it: a solitary wolf slinked out from a near-by tree, its teeth bared in a threatening growl. The creature was taut and skinny; it was little wonder it had the nerve to attack a human, Link thought-it looked half-starved.

Link's survival instincts kicked in, and he reached for his sword with his right hand as the wolf sprang forward with a vicious snarl, bounding towards him. With his left hand he reached behind his back and grabbed his wooden shield, bringing it around in front of his body as the wolf leaped through the air.

The wolf slammed into Link's body, with his shield thankfully taking most of the impact. The force of the impact and weight of the wolf's body caused Link to fall backwards, the wolf on top of him.

Snarling and clawing, the wolf sought Link's neck, trying to get in around his shield to deliver a killing bite. Link swore and tried to move his shield up to cover his face more, grunting in pain as the nails of the wolf dug into his legs.

Anger flared, and Link brought his sword around the shield to deliver a heavy blow to the wolf's head with the face of his sword. The wolf yelped and slid off of him, and Link scrambled to his feet, holding his shield out in front of him and backing away from the canine.

Un-deterred, the wolf sprang forward at Link again, its jaws snapping shut on the edge of his shield. Link saw his chance to attack, and with a cry he brought his sword around in a sweeping arc right into the neck of the wolf. Blood sprayed up, and the wolf slumped to the ground, almost ripping Link's shield out of his hand.

Panting, Link wiped some blood away from his eyes and wasted no time in checking his surroundings once more. Wolves usually traveled in packs, but Link hoped this particular wolf had been an outcast of his pack.

He spotted more shapes slinking around the trees in the distance, and cursed his luck. With fumbling fingers he bent and tied his bag back up, hoisting it over his shoulder. He sheathed his sword, hooked his shield back onto his back, took a running jump and vaulted up onto Epona's back, who was beside herself with fear.

"Gee up!" He commanded, as the rest of the wolf pack bounded forwards, their red eyes glowing in the dark.

Epona needed no convincing, and took off at a full gallop, bursting out of the line of trees and into the field.

Link looked back over his shoulder to see some ten wolves give chase. Epona could easily out-run them, but wolves have more stamina then horses, so if the wolves were hungry and desperate enough they could chase them through-out the night, Link figured.

He unslung his pack and carefully removed his small bow along with a quiver of arrows. The pack returned to his back, he fitted the quiver under one shoulder, feeling burdened by all his equipment.

Making sure his legs were gripping Epona tightly enough, he fitted an arrow to his bow, turned back towards the wolves, and closed one eye to help his aim.

He felt Epona jump some object, and his grip on the arrow faltered, causing him to release it prematurely. He watched the arrow shoot almost straight up in the air; a huge miss.

Gazing back down, he saw with relief that the wolves had slowed their chase. They were clear!  
His feeling of relief vanished however, when he saw the reason why the wolves had stopped chasing him: they were circling a cowering human who was lying in the field directly behind them

Link felt confused. Where had the person come from? Then he remembered that Epona had jumped something he hadn't seen-they must have somehow almost ridden down a person!

Feeling guilt and apprehension, he knew he had to go back for the person. Sure, he was unsure of himself in his abilities and his quest, but he knew his morals would never let him leave someone behind to be massacred by a pack of wolves, especially when he had unknowingly led the wolves straight to the person.

He tried to get Epona to stop, to turn around, but she wasn't cooperating.  
"Come on," he begged. "Someone's going to be killed!" He pulled harder at the reins.  
Finally, Epona yielded and turned in the field, and Link shouted triumphantly and spurred his feet into Epona's side. He would apologize to her for the rough treatment later.  
Epona, as if sensing the urgency of the situation, rode faster then Link thought she was capable of, and the wind whooshed roughly through Link's hair, causing his green hat to be blown away-he felt slight annoyance but knew that saving the person's life was much more important than his hat.

They were drawing closer to the fighting wolves, and Link saw to his relief that they had yet to kill their prey, and were instead scrabbling amongst themselves, obviously believing the prey as good as caught.

The wind brought the sound of screams to him-the person was a girl, by the sound of the voice. He had long since hastily put his bow and arrows away, and now he reached down and yanked out his sword, the noise of steel ringing through the air.

There was no time to keep his distance and try to shoot the wolves with his arrows, he knew. It was dark and windy, which already caused his aim to be off, and if he kept missing his targets the girl was doomed.

Nor could he ride in and try to grab the girl on his way through without stopping and dismounting from Epona- she was lying on the ground, too low to be swooped up, and could even be trampled accidentally.

No, this called for a wild attack-he would have to get in close and get messy. His stomach churned as Epona reached the outer wolves. It was now or never.

He pulled on the reins so Epona could slow slightly, but she was still flying along as he leaped from her back towards the ground with a cry, falling towards one of the wolves that was snarling at, his sword raised high above his head with two hands.

His sword cleaved through the skull of the wolf with such an impact that Link was forced to let go of the sword and roll forward along the ground, coming to a stop next to the girl who was cowering on the ground, making sobbing noises.

He got up shakily, his feet ringing from the impact of the ground, and looked around wildly. The rest of the pack did not seem to be too happy with him dropping back in on them, he thought, judging by the way they were snarling and gnashing their teeth.

Epona was galloping away into the distance, and Link felt glad that whatever happened to him the horse would not have to perish as well.

He brought his shield forward in front of him, and cast a glance back to where his sword lay, still embedded in the skull of the unlucky wolf.

Now what was he going to do? He thought miserably.

One grey wolf leaped at him suddenly, and he brought the shield down just in time to bat it away.

"Get up!" He said frantically to the girl, and thankfully she did as he said without protesting, climbing shakily to her knees. It was too dark to get a good look at her face, and he was too busy keeping an eye on the wolves.

"Walk with me!" He instructed, taking her right hand in his left.

Slowly they edged towards where his sword lay, the wolves still circling them and growling. One rushed forward with a snarl, causing the girl to scream in alarm.

Link kicked out a foot and caught the wolf under the jaw with the base of his boot, halting its attack.

The two of them side-stepped for a few more meters, and finally Link's sword was at their feet. He handed his shield to the girl, who took it with shaking hands, and bent down to retrieve his sword. He pulled hard on it, but it didn't budge at all, being too firmly wedged into the skull of the animal.

The wolves, sensing weakness, sprang forward as one, while Link was still desperately trying to heave out his weapon.

One of the animals sunk its teeth into Link's leg, and he cried out in pain, but refused to let go of his only weapon. The girl bashed at the creature's head using his shield, but the wolf just snarled more loudly and hung on.

With one final heave the sword came lose, and Link turned and, using both hands, sunk it deep into the spine of the wolf that was latched onto his leg.

The animal shuddered and fell still, and Link, now free of the animal, jumped in front of the girl, swinging his sword wildly in a frenzy and screaming in pain and anger.

Blood splashed onto the grass in the clearing as his sword bit into the wolves time and time again, until Link felt himself tiring.

During a lull in the battle he did a quick head-count. Four wolves remained, now even more determined to bring down this monster of a prey.

Link allowed his sword arm to drop, panting heavily, his shoulders heaving up and down as he tried to suck in more air in exhaustion.

The wolves readied to attack, but suddenly Epona was behind the animals, rearing up wildly and thrashing out with her hooves. She knocked one to the ground, and finally the remaining wolves dashed off across the field towards the forest, yelping in defeat.

Link's sword fell from his numb hand as he gazed in disbelief at the scene of carnage around him-approximately seven wolves lay dead.

Gasping in air, he turned to the girl finally, who was still clutching his shield and crying softly. What a sight he must look, he thought wryly; covered from head to toe in wolf blood, his eyes bearing a slightly crazed look from the battle lust.

Numbly, he realised that the girl was holding out his shield for him to take.  
"Thank you, Link," the girl stuttered. "You saved my life."  
Link took the shield and frowned. Was he _that _recognizable even without his hat?

He peered at the face of the girl, and gasped.

"I know you!" He said. "You're Malon, of Lon Lon Ranch."

Malon nodded, laughing slightly through her tears. "I'm happy you still remember me," she whispered.

Link looked around. He had endless questions for the girl, but he knew that they had to find some shelter-if they were attacked again he wouldn't be able to defend himself _or _Malon.

"Come with me," he said, taking her smooth hand in his rougher one.

At last, it started to rain.

* * *

Aaand there it is. If you liked it, leave a review, because honestly they inspire me to get the chapters and stories out quicker! Of course there will be more to come soon, because I enjoyed writing this more mature story of Link.  
Malon, naturally, will feature more heavily in the second chapter. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter to my second fan-fic. I do not own any of these characters. That's all I gotta say for now-see you at the bottom of the page. :p**

* * *

Link slowly waded through the knee-deep water, keeping his right hand firm on his sword's hilt. The passageway he was in was narrow, dank, and dim, lit scarcely only by the light of the lantern he held aloft in his left hand.

Link paused, taking a deep breath. A familiar fluttering sound swam past his ears, and he turned his head slightly to look at the round, blue shape of his fairy, Navi. The light that emitted from her winged form splashed onto his face.

"It must be just a little bit further," the fairy whispered, unusually quiet. "You grab it, I'll keep watch, and then we're outta here."

Link nodded mutely, feeling beads of sweat run down his forehead.  
He resumed walking down the passageway, his feet kicking up droplets of water. Navi floated by his side, offering a constant flow of reassurance that served to quell his fear a little.

A roaring noise filled the tunnel, making the walls around him shake impossibly. He spun around, his heart hammering, expecting to find something behind him, but the passageway was empty.

Link strained his ears, but could only hear the sound of water dripping onto water.

"This is too dangerous," He hissed at Navi. "I told you that I was not prepared to risk losing you, Navi!"

"Just a little further." Navi said gently.

He sensed that he was in too deep now to turn back, regardless. Sloshing forward once more, he felt a sudden coolness on his scalp, and looked up at the ceiling.

Water was dripping down like it had been up to now, but he had the weird sensation that the amount of water slipping through the ceiling was increasing.

His fears were confirmed when, a few steps further, more and more drops began to plink down onto him.

"Keep moving," Navi told him.

He rubbed the drops from his head, but the cold sensation stayed with him.

The roaring noise returned, but this time it was accompanied by a drumming sound right above him.  
"Do you hear that?" He whispered urgently.  
"Hear what? I only hear dripping," Navi said.

The fairy was hovering just behind him now, so he could not turn and look at her without carefully lowering his torch out of the way first.

He decided he must be imaging things, and moved forward once more. Drops of liquid rained down on him now, and he started to fear that the roof of the tunnel would collapse under the weight of the water.

He suddenly fell forward onto his knees in the water as the roaring sensation filled his ears again. He cried out; the noise seemed to be everywhere! It filled his head until he thought he would go mad.  
"Stop!" He screamed, to no-one.

He let both his torch and his sword fall from his hands and drop into the water, the light extinguishing from the torch immediately.

"Link, what's wrong?" He heard Navi say distantly. "Get up!"

"I can't!" He tried to say, but before he could get the words out there was a crack in the ceiling and water poured down onto his head, the force battening him down to the ground. He couldn't move!

The water continued to drench him, the roaring in his ears growing louder and louder. Again he tried to get out from under the water, but all his strength was gone. He couldn't do it.

"Link!" He heard Navi scream. "Help me!"

He managed to turn his head and saw through the curtain of water that something had Navi, something was taking her away from him.

"I...I can't!" He gasped, feeling a sense of rage and frustration. "I can't move!"

"Link, you have to get up!"

"I CAN'T!" He screamed.

"You'll drown if you don't!"

"I deserve it!" He sobbed, defeated.  
Suddenly, his head snapped to the side as the sound of a slap rang out. He opened his eyes.

* * *

He was lying in grass and mud, half submerged in water. Groggily, he raised his head and looked around him. He was in the middle of a storm, thunder booming above him and the rain coming down so fast and hard that it stung at his skin.

He glanced up, shielding his eyes with a hand, at the figure standing above him.  
It was Malon, the farm girl. She was panting and had her right hand cupped into a fan, and Link realised she must have slapped him.

He sat up weakly, fighting against the force of the rain and the wind.

"What happened?" He shouted over the sound of the fury around them.

Malon leaned down so that she and him were face-to-face, so that she could be heard over the storm.

"You just...collapsed suddenly!" She yelled. "And then you wouldn't wake up, I was so worried!"

Link groaned and felt at his head. He had been dreaming...dreaming of...guilt immediately washed over him. But it hadn't happened anything like that. As for the voice he had heard near the end of the dream, it must have been Malon trying to wake him. He felt delirious.

"I think you've just lost a bit of blood," Malon went on, when he didn't speak.

Link was still lost in thought. It all came back to him-the fight with the wolves, saving Malon, then grabbing her hand and leading her and Epona into the woods to find shelter from the sudden storm that sprang up.

"How long was I out for?" He asked, still forced to yell.

"Five minutes, tops!" She replied.

A thought hit him. "Where's Epona?"

He knew something bad had happened when Malon paled.

"I'm sorry, Link! When you fainted I had to make sure you didn't drown, and Epona just bolted!" She explained, wringing her hands.

Link frowned. "But you used to own her!" He pointed out. "She should have stayed with you!"  
"I think it's this storm, Link!" She yelled. "It's not natural!"

As if on cue, a streak of lightning peeled down to the ground, striking a near-by tree and causing it to slowly topple over to the ground.

Link scrambled to his feet automatically, doing a quick check to make sure he had all his equipment. He felt at his head, thankful that his hat was still there. He had grabbed it from where it had been blown off in the field before they had entered the forest.

"Let's go!" He said, taking Malon's hand once more in his.

They ran through the forest, Link leading grimly, dodging around trees and over creeping vines that littered the ground. The rain made the going perilous, and more then a few times he and Malon slipped on the sodden earth.

Link made sure never to let go of Malon's hand. The dream still haunted him. He had already let down one friend; he wouldn't let himself make the same mistake twice, he told himself.

They ran almost blindly for what seemed like an age, until Link sensed that they were nearing the heart of the forest. Around them the wind howled through the floor of the forest, whipping up leaves and dirt.

Twice more lightning struck near them, and Link had the horrible thought that it seemed the storm was specifically targeting them.

Finally, he stopped running, panting and out of breath. He bent over, his free hand resting on his knee, trying to ignore the sharp pain of a stitch in his side.

"The storm's following us," he rasped. "I don't know how, but it is. I don't know what to do." He admitted, wiping rain from his eyes.

His green hat was sitting askew on top of his head, flopped over one of his ears and heavy with absorbed rain water.

He glanced up at Malon, noting that her own hair was matted down from the rain, and saw that she was looking off into the trees with a confused expression on her face.  
"There's light over there," she said loudly, pointing.

Link looked to where she was indicating and saw that there _was _a dim light shining through the trees, barely visible through the sheets of rain.

Still, instead of allowing his hopes to raise, he felt skeptical.

"I don't know," he told her. "It could be anything."  
She raised an eyebrow at him, her teeth chattering from the cold. "Since when were you such a skeptic?" She stammered with a laugh. "Besides, we don't have a choice. Come on."

Now it was her turn to lead him through the trees, but as they drew nearer to the light's source Link brought out his sword and took the lead. He didn't really have the energy to fight off anything, but holding the sword made him feel safer.

As they cleared the last of the trees between them and the light, they entered a very small clearing, the sky above it still blocked off by the over-hanging branches of trees. There, sitting squat in the middle of the clearing was a small, wooden cabin; inside Link could see a lantern sitting by the window-the light they had seen.

"What in Hyrule..." Link muttered, taken aback. "Who would live way out here?"

Malon let go of his hand and ran forward to the door, before he could object. She hammered on the wood door with her hands.  
"Hello!" She called. "Is anyone home? We need shelter!"

Link joined her at the door, feeling thankful that the roof of the cabin jutted out over the door, giving them shelter from the rain.

There was no answer from inside the house. Malon shot Link an uneasy look.  
"Try the door," he suggested.

Malon hesitated, and then a loud bang of thunder sounded, making her shriek and twist the door knob hurriedly. The door opened, and they both entered the house quickly; Link shut the door behind him with relief.

He looked around the house. It was so small that it only contained the one room, and a quick glance told him that it was presently unoccupied. In one corner was a single, simple bed, and he was glad to see that a warm quilt lay invitingly over it. The only other items of furniture in the room was a small table with three old chairs seated around it, a bookshelf that was empty apart from what looked to be a flint, a rope and a compass, a barren fireplace, a rug, and a rudimentary stove.

Next to the fireplace there was a pile of wood for fire.

Link smiled faintly, and, turning back to the door, slid a wooden beam into the rings on either side of it, bolting it safely.

Malon eyed the door and turned to him. "What are you doing? I know it's safer that way, but what if whoever owns this place comes back and wants to get in?"

Link allowed his pack to fall to the floor and slid it next to the door with his boot, placing his shield near-by with some relief; he felt so much lighter without all his equipment.

"I'd be very surprised if any owner comes to this place," he explained to Malon, rubbing his shoulders with one hand and wincing at the pain. "I think this is a safe house that someone has set up. It's been stocked with some necessities for whoever needs to use this place in an emergency. The idea is that you can stay for as long as you want, but not for good, and when you leave it's your job to make sure the place is ready and stocked for the next traveler."

Malon hesitated, and indicated the lantern. "Then who lit that?"

Link limped over to the lantern and studied it. "I think it's enchanted. A simple spell would be enough to make sure that it lights itself every night, I'd say."

Suddenly over-come with fatigue, a dizzy spell hit him, making him sway on the spot, his vision whitening out.

"Link!"  
He felt Malon's arms around his waste, and let himself be led over to the bed. He slumped down onto it and held his head.

"Sorry," he murmured, his vision returning. "Guess I'm pretty useless."

"Don't say that!"

He looked up into Malon's face properly for the first time that night. She was still dripping wet, but her eyes held a fiery quality to them that told him that here was a very strong girl.

He looked her over. Red hair adorned her round face, and her eyes were lively and light-brown. Her skin was very pale for someone who lived on a farm, but that had more to do with her red hair then anything else, he reflected. She wore a simple white dress with a small blue scarf around her neck.

Her figure had filled out since the last time he saw her too, he saw. Back then they had both been mere children, but now he saw that Malon had reached womanhood at an early age.

"How long has it been since we saw each other last?" He mused aloud.

Malon's eyes softened, and she smiled. " I think it's been about three years, Link."  
Link blinked. Had it been that long?

She sat next to him on the bed and grinned at him. "I honestly thought I would see you again sooner, but I guess that's the price you pay for being a hero."

Link looked away. Three years. He had spent three years fighting and hurting, and what had he actually accomplished?

Malon must have noticed his bad mood returning, for she went on talking. "Epona's looking well. She was attached to you the first day you came to the farm, I remember," she said fondly.

Link allowed himself a small smile. "I remember. We were both around the same height back then." He looked at Malon. "And I remember you taught me your family's song for my Ocarina."  
Malon looked delighted. "You _do _remember everything. What strikes me the most when I think back to when I met you is how awed I felt by you...the hero of Hyrule, hanging around me, a stupid farm girl!"

"Hey, I felt nervous back then too," Link admitted. _I still do, _he realised.

Outside, the rain buffeted the cabin with sudden intenseness, and Link felt relieved once more that they had managed to find some shelter.

"Oh, I was going to ask you..." Malon spoke up nervously. "When we met back then you had a fairy with you, I remember. Navi, wasn't it? Where is she?"

Link froze, and looked into Malon's eyes. He didn't see any trace of accusation there, just a polite curiosity, but the question chilled him none-the-less.

He stood up quickly. "I have to make a fire, or we'll both freeze tonight," he said woodenly.

He set about mechanically stocking the fireplace with wood, and then used the flint from the bookshelf to strike up a flame after several failed attempts. He could sense that Malon had not moved from the bed, and felt her eyes on the back of his head.

The fire roared up, the wood being of a good type for fire-making.

Link leaned back on his hands and enjoyed the warmth of the fire, trying to block out the guilt he was feeling. He felt a pang of worry when he remembered that Epona was still out there somewhere. He hoped that she had the sense to stay away from the forest until the storm cleared.

Malon came over to the fire and sat next to him, but did not speak.

They sat in companionable silence, listening to the wood crackle in the fire and to the sound of the storm raging outside.

Link jumped as he felt Malon's hand on his ankle, rolling up the base of his trews.  
"What are you-" He began, but stopped as he looked down at his leg to see that blood was trickling down it from puncture wounds in his calf.

Carefully, Malon rolled his pant leg up and over the wound, so that his lower leg was exposed. They both inspected the wound.

"Could have been worse?" Link suggested.

Malon shook her head. "Maybe, but now we've got to worry about infection, or gangrene. I don't see any fabric in the wound, but bits of clothing sticking to cuts is usually the easiest and most common way that wounds get infected."

Link raised an eyebrow. "You sure you're just a farm girl?" He said wryly.

She ignored him and got up, searching around the room. She came back from the bookshelf with a triumphant look, and held out a roll of bandages and a small vial of disinfectant.

Taking his leg gently in her hand, she carefully applied the disinfectant to the wound. Link winced at the burning sensation, but after Malon had wrapped the wound up in a bandage the stinging went away.

She looked him over. "You have a lot of other cuts and bruises, but I think this bite on your leg is the main thing you have to keep an eye on."

Link thanked her.

She laughed pleasantly, and suddenly she seemed like the young girl he had met those years ago. "Why are you thanking me? You saved _me_, remember?"

He shrugged, not being able to accept the praise. "I led the wolves to you in the first place."

"Maybe, but it was my fault for being out there on my own in the first place." She retorted, and then looked away quickly.  
Link sensed she didn't want to be questioned, but he couldn't help himself.

"So what were you doing out there? Your farm must be, what, a couple of day's travel away?" He asked.

She heaved a sigh-she had obviously been waiting for him to question her.

"I was running away, if you must know."

"Not because I was being badly treated at home or anything," she added quickly when she saw the startled look on his face. "But it's just...my father's not the owner of the farm anymore. One day we received a message from Princess Zelda saying that ownership of the farm was to be immediately handed over to our farmhand, Ingo."

Link remembered Ingo: a sniveling, weasel of a man.

"Couldn't have been from Zelda," he said. "She's not like that for one, and everyone knows that she went missing."  
Again, he felt the guilt.

Malon nodded. "I know. Ganandorf had a hand in it, I bet. He's been slowly taking over power in Hyrule for ages...oh. But I guess you know all this," she said sheepishly.

"So why did you run away?" Link asked again.

"I couldn't do any good on the farm. My father doesn't have the courage to stand up to Ingo and try to get his farm back, so I decided that I would go to someplace like Kakariko Village and earn enough money to maybe buy the farm back, or something..."

She suddenly looked on the verge of tears. "I didn't really have a good plan, okay? I...I just knew I had to leave." She paused, biting her lip in an effort to try to keep composed.

"I left my father a note, and I abandoned him!" She cried suddenly.

Tears slowly slid down her face, and she hid her face behind her hands, sobbing quietly.

Fortunately, Link thought, he knew enough about guilt to be able to comfort her a little.

He put an arm around her shoulder and drew her in close to him, his boldness shocking himself.

Malon stiffened, drawing in a shocked breath, but then she relaxed and sank her head into his shoulder, crying softly.

"You did what you had to do, I think," Link told her. "Sometimes I think it takes more courage to run away from something then to face it, especially if you know you can do no good."

He remembered that Malon only had a father taking care of her-what happened to the mother he did not know, and was not about to go snooping around to find out.

So it must be especially hard for her, leaving behind the only family member she has, he thought.

"I'll help you," he stated suddenly. "Whether I have to escort you to Kakariko Village and help you get set up there, or if I have to kick Ingo out of your farm myself, you won't be alone."

She drew back and looked at him with surprise in her eyes. "You can't do that! You must have far more important tasks to complete other then helping someone like me."

"Not at the moment, it just so happens."

She wiped away her tears and looked at the ground. "No, I can't drag you into this petty mess as well. I won't allow myself to."

"Look, I'm helping you whether you like it or not," he said firmly.

She looked like she was about to argue some more, but then seemed to change her mind. "Okay, if you feel you have to. Um, I need to think more on what I'm going to do, but I feel too drained now. I need sleep," she said apologetically.

"Yeah, me too," Link admitted.

The rain was still caming down, and had only lessened slightly since they had entered the cabin.

"You take the bed," Link said.

"From the tone of your voice I'd guess that arguing with you would be pointless, so I'll just give in and do that," she said, rubbing at her eyes.

She got into the bed, nestling under the covers, while Link dimmed the lantern.  
"I think I saw some spare cushions and sheets on a shelf back there," she told him sleepily, yawning.

Within minutes she was fast asleep.

Link quietly un-sheathed his sword and walked to the door. He stepped next to the door and sat with his back to the wall, his sword on the floor in arms-reach.

He felt sapped of all energy, but made himself hold his eyes open and keep alert. It would be a long night.

Outside, the storm raged.

* * *

**Ah, this was a hard chapter to write. It's longer then the first chapter simply because I had to include so much stuff. Someone left a review for the first chapter saying something like "Link's not alone, he has Navi. You do know that, right?"  
Yep, I did. This chapter gives a hint to what has become of the fairy.**

Also, a quick note: this story differs from the game mainly in that in the game Link misses seven years of his life between where he's a child and an adult, while in this story I've let him grow up naturally.  
Some other small differences include that, in the game, Link only gets Epona from Malon when he's an adult, while in the story I got him to recieve Epona at a younger age. The story is set sometime in the period that you don't get to see in the game, so I'm sure there are a lot of small mistakes in there. :s

Lastly, a huge thank-you to everyone who has left reviews. I'm glad that this story has been fairly well-recieved, and look forward to writing more of it. :)

I'm sure I've forgotten a lot. Oh well, see you next chapter!  



	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3! Link and Malon are not my characters, blah blah, you know the drill. As usual, I'll see you at the end for a discussion along with crumpets and tea. Or something.**

* * *

Link opened his eyes slowly and groaned as he felt the stiffness in his muscles and the crick in his neck. Groggily he realised that he must have fallen asleep sitting up and with his back against a wall. His whole body ached painfully, and his head throbbed dully. 

He clutched at his head. What had made him go to sleep in such a painful position?

His head snapped up as the events of last night came back to him-he had been on watch duty, hadn't he?

Somewhat frantically now, he scanned around the cabin's single room in alarm, at the same time cursing himself for falling asleep. Anything could have happened while he had been dozing.

With a shock he noticed that the single bed in the corner was empty, the covers pulled back and crumpled.

"Malon?" He called, his voice raspy from sleep. Painfully, he struggled to his feet, his legs feeling rubbery beneath him. His sword still lay on the ground next to where he had been sitting; he plucked it up and held it at the ready, taking another look around the cabin.

It was deserted-Malon was definitely gone. He felt a sense of panic, but was also still feeling delirious from his sleep.

Glancing out the cabin's single window, he noted how the sunlight that was slanting through into the cabin was bright and strong-he figured it to be about mid-day.

He had slept for far too long! He could hear the loud chatter of birds and other animals outside, as they busied themselves with getting on with their business after the torrential downpour of last night.

Sheathing his sword, he furrowed his brow as he tried to think of where Malon could be. The window did not look like it had been forced open, and there was no other sign of a forced entry.

He glanced at the front door, and groaned.

The bar had been removed from in front of the door, so Malon must have left the house of her own accord.

He tried to think of reasons why she would leave the cabin. She could have gone to relieve herself, or to find food, or even just to take a walk. Still, he couldn't quell the discomforting feeling that something could have happened to her.

He was about to go outside to see if he could find out what was going on, and even had one hand on the doorknob, when he noticed something white out of the corner of his eye.

Turning his head, he saw that there was a sheet of paper lying on top of the small, round table, held down with a stone.

_That _certainly had not been there last night, he thought.

With a feeling of trepidation he walked over to the table and picked up the piece of paper. It was a note, written in ink:

_Link,_

_I'm sorry I had to leave you like this. I just can't let you waste your time on me when Hyrule needs you more than I do. I had a long think when I woke up, and I've decided to go back to the farm. My dad's probably really worried, and honestly I didn't really have much of a plan when I set out._

_I'm glad I ran into you, though. Besides from the fact you saved my life, I mean. It was good catching up, and I almost imagined that I could have a good adventure with you. But I can't be that selfish._

_Take care of yourself, okay?_

_-Malon_

Link stared unblinking at the note, and re-read it through three more times. So that was it, then; she was gone.

It probably was best for her to get back to the farm, he thought. The outside world was getting to be too dangerous for a young girl these days.

He sighed and carefully folded the note in half and put it in his pocket. _All for the best, _he told himself.

Only it wasn't. He suddenly felt nauseated, and it wasn't from his wounds or his exhaustion.

For a slight time there, he had had a reason to be a hero. Saving Hyrule was beyond him, he knew, but he had thought he would be able to protect one person from danger-that was something he believed he was capable of.

He had felt needed, appreciated. And what now? Was it back to being alone and traveling around Hyrule in search of dungeons and items he could use on his quest? Or should he just march up to Ganondorf's half-built castle and make his own death come quicker?

Malon, apart from anything else, had proven to be a distraction from his sickening mind. He had felt slightly intimidated by her, a girl around his own age, and found he had to hide the fact that he wasn't coping well from her.

And she had believed in him, he thought sadly. That helped a lot, too.

Feeling tears come to his eyes, he brushed them away angrily and told himself to cut it out. At least Malon was safe now; probably safer then she would be had she stayed with him.

Slowly, as if to delay his departure, he gathered his equipment. He would have to track down Epona too, he remembered.

He had tidied up the place and was preparing to leave, when the door swung open suddenly, creaking on its hinges.

Link spun around to the door, his sword already back in his hand.

There, framed in the door-way and blinking at Link, was Malon.

"Easy, it's just me," she said softly, indicating his sword which was still pointing at her.

Link blanched and quickly sheathed his sword. He could not believe his eyes, for he could think of no reason why Malon would suddenly be standing before him.

She entered the cabin and closed the door behind her, acting awkward. Link noticed she seemed to be searching for something in the cabin.

"Ah," she remarked suddenly, looking at Link sheepishly. "I see you've already found the note I left."

Link nodded. "I thought you would be almost back to your farm by now," he said.

Why had she come back? He asked himself once more.

Malon looked embarrassed. "I'm really sorry. I was hoping that I could get back here and tear up the note before you saw it."

Link said nothing, sensing that she would continue talking if he remained silent.

Malon walked up to him, and stared at the ground. "I wrote that letter this morning, and left. But then as I was making my way home I realised I _really _didn't want to go back to the farm, and that I'd rather stay with you, until I get myself set up somewhere. So I came back."

Link felt speechless. He had been readying himself for a lonely journey somewhere, but now that Malon had come back he realised he could put that awful part of his life on hold and maybe enjoy himself a bit.

He grinned at her. "I'm really glad you came back."

She looked up, her brown eyes startled. "_Glad? _I thought you would have been happy to be rid of me. And what I'm doing is really selfish."

He shook his head, smiling slightly. "I was actually looking forward to traveling with you. It makes a nice change to being alone."

She looked tearful. "Oh, Link..."

They were interrupted by an impatience neighing from outside. Link's head came up.  
"What the? Is that Epona?" He asked.

Malon nodded, smiling. "I ran into her on my way back here. She was acting pretty flustered, so I could tell she hadn't found you yet."

_That's one worry gone, _Link thought, relieved.

"So, what, you want to go to Kakariko still?" Link asked her.

Malon nodded, still looking hesitant. "If it's not too much trouble..."

* * *

The sun shone down on blades of grass that were glistening with dew. A nice breeze rolled over the land, making the day a perfect one: not too hot or wet. 

Link and Malon rode slowly over the fields on Epona, enjoying the weather.

Link had a smile on his face at the memory of how Epona had acted upon seeing him: the horse had nuzzled his hand strongly, almost knocking him over in the process of showing her relief at finding him safe.

"Apple?" Malon offered, snaking an arm around his waste to offer Link the fruit.

She was sitting behind him on Epona, and, being an expert rider, did not have to hang on to Link's waist for balance. Still, that would have been nice, Link reflected.

His eyes bulged at the sight of the food.  
"Where did you get this from?" He asked her, taking the green apple from her hand and biting into it thankfully. He had not eaten for days.

"Oh, there are apple trees on the way to my farm. They're all over this area-you just gotta keep an eye out for them," she explained.

He could hear her chewing softly on her own apple.

"Got any more?" He asked.  
"Sure. Here."

He took the second apple and leaned forward.

"Epona..." he said in a sing-song voice. "I've got something good for you..."

Epona must have been in a cranky mood, for she snorted and continued walking, ignoring him.

However, when Link reached out an arm and showed her the apple, she forgot about being grumpy and quickly snatched the apple from his hand with her mouth, and started chewing noisily.

Link laughed. "You were hungry too, huh?"

Malon giggled, and the two of them finished their apples lazily.

"This is nice," Malon said with a sigh. "A lot of people don't even get to travel around like this these days."

Link nodded, and half turned in his seat so he could look at her. "Can't really blame them. Especially with what happened last night...I'm not that used to being attacked and stormed on all at once like that."

Malon laughed, and then her face grew serious. "What do you think caused that storm?" She asked.

"I'm still kind of hoping it could have just been a freak storm," Link said.

Malon shook her head. "No; you saw the way it was following us. Ganondorf's got plenty of witches and warlocks working for him who could have arranged something like that."

Link frowned. He didn't much like the sound of witches or warlocks. He had enough trouble dealing with the Undead, wolves, giant spiders and other similar nasties.

Malon poked him in the side playfully.

"You could beat a warlock though, Link." She teased.

Link laughed, but inside he felt his spirits rise. Sure, she was probably just joking, but he wasn't used to hearing compliments much.

He remembered that he had seen Malon remove something from the cabin before they left that had looked like a weird kind of fabric in a bag.

"What did you take from the cabin?" He asked.

"A tent." Malon's voice sounded like she was pleased with herself.

Link winced. "I don't know if we were really allowed to take that," he said.

He felt her shrug. "What are they going to do, come after us? And I figured we really needed it-all you have on you is all your equipment-you don't even have a proper sleeping bag!"

Link felt sheepish. "Well, all my sleeping bags tend to get wrecked someway or another, and I haven't had much money lately."

"Well, people should set up some sort of fund for you or something," Malon said angrily. "It would probably help you a lot!"  
Link shrugged. "Yes, but how will they get that done? Set up a store called "Link's War Funds", and expect Ganondorf's men to ignore it?"

Malon laughed. "Well, they'd be able to find _some _way to do it. You know what I mean..."  
"Yeah. But life is pretty hard for everyone at the moment, and people have to think about themselves and their families first. So I don't blame them." He said, gazing off at the horizon.

Malon was silent. Suddenly, Link felt her slip her arms around him.

"Um, I don't want to fall off," she chuckled shyly in explanation.

They both knew it was a lie, but Link didn't care. He enjoyed the feel of her comforting body against his.

* * *

As dusk approached, they came to a small river in a slight dip in the land, and Link halted Epona. 

"I guess this is as good a place to set up camp as any," Link said. "Especially if that's fresh water."

Malon agreed, and slid off the horse. "I'll set up the tent," she told him, and started busying herself with the task.

Link was too tired to argue, and instead led Epona over to the gurgling river. He scooped a handful of water into his mouth, and swallowed it down after discovering that it was fresh water. The river looked clean enough, so he would not worry about boiling the water in case of infection, and instead he drank his fill right there.

Epona dipped her head and drank noisily.

Link left Epona at the water-she would return when she felt like it-and walked back to Malon. To his surprise she had already got the tent up, and was standing proudly beside it.

"It's going to be a bit cramped with the two of us in there, but I think we'll manage," she grinned at him.

Link gulped. "You know, I'm fine with sleeping outside if you want the tent to yourself."

"You already gave up a bed for me last night Link, so we're both sleeping in the tent," she said pointedly.

Link shrugged, but inside his heart was thumping. He had never slept next to a girl before. Maybe a couple of times when he was little, but now that he was older it seemed like a much bigger deal. _Well get over it, _he told himself. _I bet Malon doesn't think anything of it._

He made a fire, which took some time since he had to gather the firewood before-hand, and managed to take down a wild rabbit with an arrow for dinner. The fact that he only had three arrows left worried him, for he did not know when he would next get the chance to restock.

After skinning, cooking and eating the rabbit with Malon, which was lean and stringy, Link was exhausted.

This was what he hated about the wild: he did not particularly enjoy hunting and skinning animals, nor having to make fire every second night, but these were things that he didn't have a choice but to do.

He stood up finally.

"Need...sleep..." he mumbled to Malon, who laughed.

"Sure. I'll be in there in a second as well, after I put out the fire," Malon said.

Link nodded and practically collapsed onto the quilt that had been spread out in the tent. He looked up at the roof of the tent, thinking to himself what a change sleeping in a tent made.

His eyes flickered-he could feel sleep coming on, and the wound on his leg was hurting slightly, which made him want to drift off even more so that he would not feel the pain.

He heard someone entering the tent beyond his closed eyelids, and then felt Malon lie next to him; the tent was so small that their bodies touched.

"This is a bit smaller than I thought it would be, I suppose, but you're okay to sleep, right?" She asked, and he felt her hip press against his.

His eyes flew open. "Sure, this is fine," he managed to say.

He glanced sideways at her. She was lying on her back, staring up at the tent's ceiling with her brown eyes. The moonlight entering the tent illuminated her fiery red hair.

Link's throat was dry, and suddenly he felt wide-awake.

_You're acting like a kid, _he told himself, but found he couldn't ignore the fact that Malon was so close to him.

Malon's head turned, and she smiled questionably at him.

"What are you looking at?" She asked, a hint of humor in her voice.

He suddenly felt like a Peeping Tom.

"Sorry, I was just...thinking too hard, and I must have zoned out," he said lamely.

Malon shifted her body so that she was on her side facing him, one hand under her head.

"What were you thinking about?" She asked.

_Drat, _Link thought. Now he'd have to lie even more.

He grasped for something to say. "I was just thinking of how glad I am to have some company for a change, that was all."  
_Oh well, _he thought. _At least that was kind of truthful._

Malon reddened. "If you say so..." she said.

Link closed his eyes again, figuring that she would settle down to fall asleep too. After half a minute passed he opened his eyes and found Malon still staring at him.

"What is it?" He asked, feeling self-conscious.

The farm girl bit her lip. "I was just wondering if you've ever...ever had a girlfriend or anything?"

"Huh?" The question took him off-guard. "Um...no, I suppose I haven't," he admitted, feeling stupid.

Malon looked surprised. "Really?" She asked.

He frowned. "I just haven't had the time for a relationship, really. Something always comes up that I have to do."

"I suppose that's true," she said thoughtfully.

She then chucked him an impish grin. "Still, at the moment all you've got going is escorting me to Kakariko, and I'm with you right now, so a relationship would definitely be possible."

Link's eyes widened, and he stared at Malon in disbelief.

_Did I catch that right? _His mind asked.

Before he could say something he was spared by Malon laughing.

"That was a _joke_, Link." She said, sticking out her tongue. "I just wanted to see what your reaction would be, that's all."

Link laughed weakly, but his stomach was still doing flip-flops.

He actually felt a bit disappointed. It would have been nice if a girl were to confess her love for him-it hadn't really happened to him yet...and might never will, for that matter, if his life was to be as short as he sometimes thought it would be.

Malon lay back down on her back once more, her eyes still open. Link looked at her-at her shapely body, her large eyes, her pink lips...

He felt like he had to say something more.

"Malon," he said slowly, still thinking of what he was going to say. "When you joked that you wanted a relationship with me, I only stared at you because I was surprised at what you said, and not because I thought that it would be a...a bad idea, or anything," he finished lamely.

_Way to go, _he told himself sarcastically. _What a poet with words you are._

Nervously he watched Malon's eyes for her reaction. She was just staring at him. She sat up suddenly, and leaned over his body.

"Thanks for saying that," she said with a smile, looking into his eyes. Her eyelids lowered, giving her a peaceful expression. "It would be nice to be with you, Link."  
His heart thumped to a crescendo. He suddenly felt great-like her words had just taken away half of his troubles.

"You're wel-" he began, but stopped when Malon leaned down over him even more, her chest brushing against his. She halted with her lips just a hair's away from his.

"Link," she breathed, as he stared wide-eyed up at her. "Do you want to kiss me?"

Her sudden boldness startled him. He wouldn't have guessed that she would be this forth-coming about a relationship.

He had to answer her. He felt a bit awkward, as if things were happening far too quickly, but he couldn't tell her "no".

"Yes," he gulped, and with his words she lowered her lips gently onto his, kissing him deeply and passionately. He returned the kiss somewhat awkwardly.

She pulled away, smiling. "I always wondered how that would feel," she admitted. "Kissing you..."

"Yeah, me too," Link admitted in a daze, and then realised what he had just said.

He shook his head. "I mean, not kissing _me, _just kissing someone else," he said hurriedly, feeling like an idiot.

Malon giggled, and then suddenly crawled on top of him, straddling him.

"Do you want me?" She asked.

Link stared. "What, _now?_" He spluttered. Things were moving way too fast for him.

Malon nodded. "You must be so lonely, Link. I just want to...to fix that." She said, blushing, and leaned down to kiss him again.

Warning bells were going off in Link's head. This wasn't right, he knew. Something was wrong.

The knife flashed through the air, towards Link's chest, but he rolled to one side at the last minute and took it in his shoulder. He cried out in pain and pushed Malon away, scrambling to the other side of the tent and turning to face her.

The knife dripped blood onto the quilt from Malon's hand.

"What's the matter, Link?" She asked with mock innocence. "I thought you liked pain."

Link glared at her, his right hand holding his wounded left shoulder, which was burning under his touch.

"Who are you?" He demanded angrily.

"You know who I am! It's me, Malon..." Said the girl, and had she not been holding a blood-soaked knife the statement may have been true.

"You're not," Link hissed. "I don't know what has happened, but you're not Malon."

The girl glared at him, and suddenly rushed forward, plunging the knife towards Link. He dodged, and the knife sliced through a wall of the tent.

Malon prepared to turn and slice at Link again, and Link saw that in the close quarters they were in he would not be able to dodge her attacks.

Making up his mind quickly, he slammed an elbow into her head, making her body sag forward and knocking her out cold.

She fell to the quilt, the knife dropping from her hands.

Panting, Link stared down at Malon, feeling lost and confused. What was going on?

He winced as pain shot up from his left shoulder.

She might have wounded him really badly.

His mind jumped from thought to thought quickly. She had just tried to kill him. Yet, she was Malon, for who could disguise themselves that well? They had kissed. He had saved her from the wolves. Were any of those people really Malon?

He had to get out of the tent, he suddenly knew. He was feeling sick, and needed to feel the fresh air.

Lurching to his feet, he rushed out of the tent and fell to the grass, his shoulders heaving.

A high-pitched laugh filled the night, making him jump and search the area for its source. He pulled out his sword, and found that he wasn't scared, but angry.

The laugh continued, and then Link spotted an approaching figure in the darkness.

"I've finally got you, Link," a female voice said, and a woman stepped into focus.  
He could see that she was slim, wore a cape around her shoulders, and a skimpy dress that displayed a lot of skin. Her hair was blonde and long, and her blue eyes sparkled with mischief. She looked to be in her twenties.

"Ganondorf will reward me well." She smirked, holding out a hand palm-forward, fingers splayed.

"A witch; a sorceress," Link snapped. "Someone who uses cheap tricks to win their battles."

With small dismay Link realised he had only his sword with him.

Rage filled him regardless.

"I don't know what you've done with Malon," he hissed, his eyes narrowing. "But I'm going to make you pay for it."

* * *

**Some of you might be going "what the heck is going on?", but don't worry-all will be explained next chapter.  
I am very pleased with how this chapter came out, and it is my favourite so far, I'd have to say.  
I also want to say that, for this fic, I will probably not be naming chapters, because sometimes they can give too much away. Like "Link and Malon get physical", or some such thing.  
****  
Sorry, I have a lot to get through here-those of you who don't care can leave through that door over there. :p  
First of all, thanks for all the reviews. If you've left a review and are still reading, just leave another one! If you haven't left a review, you know what to do. Hehe. I try to reply to all the reviews I get (at least I've been sending the replies, not sure if they've been reaching anyone!), so if you see that as another incentive to review that's good. **

Desert Queen! You've left two reviews,and I gotta say that you should become a member! That way people can reply to your questions easily.

Oh, and I want to talk about PaperBear. This girl left a review, so I checked her profile and noticed that she's working on a Link/Malon story like me, and has two chapters up. Now, I haven't read the story yet, but just from the summary to it I can see that it's pretty similar to mine-Malon runs away from her farm, joins Link, and I'm assuming some romantic stuff happens. I just wanted to point out that I haven't read her story (looks good though), but I'm just addressing this issue in case someone says "Hey...your story's stealing from this other one!"  
**Maybe I should read it to make sure they're not too similar. I dunno.  
And PaperBear? One of your stories has 702 reviews, I see. THAT IS INSANE! Good going! **

Lastly, in "My Adventure With Mario", my other fan-fic I'm writing, chapter 3 deals specifically with my Link fan-fic, so I'd love anyone who reads Link's Trials to check it out, and tell me their thoughts.

I'll be updating fairly recently (for both my fics), so I recommend using the "author alert" or "story alert" options.  
I am _very _pleased with how Link's Trials is going, and love getting reviews for it. So if you think I won't like you reviewing every single chapter, you are so wrong. :p


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 is here, and is up early for a special reason which I will explain after the chapter.  
I don't own any of these characters, except for the witch; she's original. Long chapter ahead!**

* * *

The witch laughed, her high-pitched cackle echoing off the tall plains which lay around them. 

Link gritted his teeth and held his sword at the ready, but the pain was distracting him; his left shoulder was on fire, and the wounds on his leg must have opened again, for he could feel blood trickling down his ankle.

_Stay alert, _he told himself, blinking his eyes to try to clear the fog that had started to envelop them.

"You _are _a fool," the woman snarled nastily, revealing sharp, canine teeth. She advanced forward a couple of steps, standing next to the tent now.

"You asked what I did to Malon?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "I did nothing to her. In fact, at this very moment I imagine that the real Malon is safely back at her farm, fast asleep, and has probably already forgotten about you."

Link's head drooped, and he glanced towards the tent, where the girl he had thought to be Malon was still lying unconscious.

"She's a..._fake _then?" He whispered. He shook his head angrily. "That's impossible!"

The woman laughed once more, a short bark. "Impossible? You've obviously never seen a proper witch before, child." She sneered.

"Tell me how you did it, then," Link prompted. "How you managed to create something that looks and feels just like the real Malon."

He wanted to know how such a thing could be done, but at the same time he was also desperately stalling for time, so he could take stock of the situation.

He was wounded and dizzy, and only had his sword with him-the rest of his equipment was in the tent. The woman stood some meters away, past the spent camp-fire and next to the tent. Behind Link stood a tall, solitary tree, its branches over-hanging above his head. Behind the tree, the river ran softly.

He was alone-Epona was no-where to be seen, and he felt a pang of panic at that; had the witch done something with her, or had she just wandered away to graze? He could call her with his Ocarina, but of course that was also with his equipment.

The witch tossed back her long blonde hair with a hand, and grinned at him. "Normally I can't be bothered speaking too much with my prey, but since you're a..._special _case, and as you're going to die soon anyway, I will tell you what you need to hear."

She walked forward again, in a slow leisurely manner, circling the remnants of the fire.

"My name is Eliza, and obviously I work for Lord Ganondorf. I have been trailing you for quite some time now, with orders to finish you off, but you're a tough target-you don't stay in one place for more then a night, and you have a rather annoying horse that can speed you away to safety at any moment." The woman orated, in a bored tone.

Link glared at her, but he was at least glad to hear that his system of hiding himself had been working.

"So, it was with a bit of luck that I came upon you two nights ago, as you saved a young girl I did not recognize from wolves. I remained hidden, however, and instead sent out a storm to either incapacitate you, or to make sure you stayed in the one place." The woman went on, casting her eyes around the campsite.

"I did not want to attack you openly just yet, so I stayed back and eaves-dropped on your conversation with the girl, this _Malon. _Outside the cabin, I found out that she was from Lon Lon Ranch, and that you obviously cared for her somewhat. That's when I formed my plan."

_If only I had my bow and arrows with me, _Link thought furiously. _Then I could shoot one straight into that smug face of hers._

"It was a rather simple plan, too! You see, by using my magic, and just by collecting a few samples of a person-say, their hair- I can create an exact replica, and fill it with the soul of something that will obey my every command."

Eliza laughed, holding her forehead with one hand. "Don't you think that it was odd for Malon to write you a note and leave, and then suddenly change her mind and come running back to you?" She stopped, and looked at Link, her eyes widening and her smile lengthening. "Oh...you didn't think that she came back for _you, _did you?" She asked, her face shining with mirth.

Link remained silent, but inside he felt the start of a searing fury rise within him.

"That's priceless!" Eliza howled. "No, dear boy, what really happened was this: Malon, the stupid girl, left of her own accord- I couldn't believe my luck when I saw her leave the cabin! After that, it was just a simple matter of using a blast of wind to blow some loose hairs from her head, then cast the spell, and I had my very _own _Malon." She grinned at him. "The Malon that came back to you claiming to have changed her mind was my clone, who I had instructed to kill or wound you as best she could."

Her eyes flicked up to his shoulder wound, and she snorted. "I had hoped she would be able to do more then _that _little flesh wound, but oh well. Of course, making the clone travel with you also meant that you weren't exactly in any hurry to get anywhere, and that you would stop in places and linger where you would normally hurry on."

"_Shut up!" _Link screamed, unable to bear it any longer. "So you tricked me-you tried to kill me with a stupid clone while you hid like a coward, but guess what? You failed."

Eliza blinked at him, and all humor slid from her face quickly.

"I failed, did I?" She repeated coldly. "You really _are _an idiot. Don't you notice that light-headed feeling, the way your vision is starting to cloud? The tip of the knife that stabbed you had been coated in poison."

At her words Link's heart fell. His vision had been fading in and out as he listened to Eliza speak, but he had hoped that it was only from his wounds and fatigue.

"Don't look so alarmed," Eliza laughed. "The poison is not meant to kill you-only weaken you enough so that _I _may kill you." She stopped, and held a hand in front of her mouth in mock-horror.  
"Oh...I guess that means you die anyway, doesn't it?" She shrugged. "Okay, be alarmed then."

_Re-evaluate your situation, _Link told himself, desperately trying to remain calm. _You have been poisoned, and are weakening. How long until you lose your movement?_

_Not long, _he decided, and ran forward at Eliza with a burst of speed that was fed by his rage, lunging his sword towards her.

The witches' eyes widened in fear, and she held out her hands in a hopeless attempt to block the blow.

Link's strength left him only a few feet in front of the witch, and he dropped to his knees with a grunt, his sword sliding from his fingers.

Eliza lowered her hands, looking relieved. "Such speed! You would have killed me, had you not been poisoned," she gloated, lowering her face in front of his.

On his knees, Link struggled to move, to even lift a finger, but nothing happened.  
Eliza circled him, and with one hand knocked his cap off, and ran a hand through his blonde hair, massaging his scalp.  
"You look so much better without that stupid hat," she scolded.  
Link glared, wishing he could slap her hand away.

"Do you know what I find most ironic about all this?" Eliza mused, stroking her chin with her free hand. "Ganondorf has been sending his men out to kill you for a while now, but you've evaded everything. But what finally brings you down? Why, you think some farm girl has the hots for you, when it's really only a mindless puppet!" She shrieked with laughter.

Suddenly, all the anger Link was feeling left him, to be replaced by an extreme sorrow. He _had _thought Malon liked him, didn't he? And he had been glad...glad to have found someone who cared for him and seemed to understand him.  
Tears stung his eyes.

But it had all been an act. Malon hadn't been there since the cabin that morning, had never wrapped her arms around him on the back of Epona, or handed him apples to eat. It had all been a disgusting clone, some mindless soul sent to trap him.

Of course he had never kissed Malon, he told himself. That wouldn't happen with the real Malon-the real Malon left him to his duty and went home. The real Malon was safe, but that thought didn't give him that much comfort. He was about to die.

He sighed, and closed his eyes. So this was it. For the past few years he had been wondering when it was all going to end.

Eliza stopped massaging his head and walked around to his front again. "I can see you're upset- I don't really blame you. Not that I can sympathize with you too much though. With my body I've never had any problems getting attention from men."

She turned to the tent suddenly, as if an idea had just struck her. "I know what will be a fitting end for you. I'll get my clone to help me kill you!"

She skipped-yes, actually _skipped, _Link thought with disgust-into the tent, and was in there for a few minutes before she came back out leading Malon-or the thing that was disguised as Malon, Link reminded himself.

He looked at the girl in disgust. It was still hard for him to accept that it _wasn't _Malon-the girl looked exactly like Malon should look-identical eyes, hair, body...

She smiled nastily at him, however, and said gleefully, "I see my master has brought you up to speed." In her hand was the knife that she had stabbed him with earlier. "I have been instructed to draw this knife across your neck, where you will die gargling on your own life blood."

A spasm of fear swept through Link. The thought of having his throat cut filled him with horror, and he vainly tried to move his body, but could only get one of his fingers to move.

It was a start, but he had no time left.

Regardless, he concentrated on wiggling his fingers, while the Malon clone stepped forward, grinning, the knife gleaming in the moonlight.

Eliza stood behind her, looking half-bored with everything and gazing up at the sky.

The clone reached him and raised his chin with her hands, gazing into his eyes. "So sorry it had to end like this, Link," the clone mocked him, stroking his chin with her fingers. "Here's something to remember me by..."

She leaned forward and kissed him, and he was powerless to even move his head away. He tried not to enjoy the kiss, which turned out not to be too hard to achieve.

Suddenly he sensed he could move his mouth, and managed to bite down on the clone's lip, but not as hard as he would have liked.

"Ow!" The Malon imposter shrieked, backing away and clutching at her lip. She drew back a hand and slapped his face. It only hurt him slightly, and reminded him of when the real Malon slapped him.

He laughed lowly, despite everything. At least he had managed to perform one last defiant act. He could also move all his fingers and his hands now; just not his arms or anything else, but he was working on them.

"What kind of evil spirit slaps, anyway?" He mocked.

"Ignore him, and just kill him already!" Eliza snapped, tapping her foot.

"Right." The girl lowered the knife to his throat. _This is it, _Link thought, bracing himself for what would be the worst pain of his life.

He looked up into the girl's eyes, thinking that it would be the last thing he would probably see. Briefly, the memory of the imposter and him riding on Epona came to him again, and he tried to brush it aside-why did he keep remembering that stupid ride with Epona?

Then, in a flash, it came to him, as the knife began to cut into the flesh of his neck, dripping blood.

"Malon!" He shouted, and the knife halted.

"What are you yelling about now?" Eliza snapped.

He felt like laughing suddenly, despite everything.

"You're Malon." He said simply, watching the confused expression on the face of the girl before him.

She turned to Eliza, frowning. "What's he going on about?" She asked.

Eliza glared. "Ignore him, he's probably lost too much blood, and it's making him crazy. He still thinks you're Malon."  
The girl laughed and turned back to Link, steadying the knife on his neck once more.

Link looked the girl in the eyes once more. "Do you remember how we rode Epona?" He asked.

"Shut up, you!" The girl snapped.  
"_Do you remember?" _He repeated, more strongly.  
"Yes, of course. Who cares? I was acting, okay? I didn't enjoy the stupid ride, and I hate that horse!" The girl exploded.

"Epona knows people. Magic or not, she'd be able to smell and sense who and what someone really is. And you led Epona to the cabin yesterday. She wouldn't let anyone but me or Malon do that! She would also have bucked off anyone else who tried to ride her, especially if that person was evil!" He cried triumphantly.

Malon drew a startled breath, and looked at him wildly.

"No..." She stammered. "I can't be her. I'm..."

"You never went back to the farm!" Link continued, speaking fast. "Eliza bewitched you into thinking you're something that you're not! No magic is strong enough to replicate an entire person!" He was thinking clearly now, and the mist before his eyes was thinning.

"He's lying!" Eliza screamed, marching over. Malon swayed on the spot, her eyes diluting, the knife limp in her hand.

"I'll do it myself!" Eliza roared, taking the knife from Malon and turning to Link.

"Goodbye, child," she snarled.

A guttural roar spewed from Link, and his sword swept through the air, towards Eliza's mid-section. As he had been trying to snap Malon out of the spell, he had also managed to regain feeling in enough parts of his body to lift his sword to attack.

Before it reached Eliza, the sword sliced into the leg of something else, and before Link knew it Malon was standing in front of the witch, as a human shield.

The girl screamed, and the sword arced around, past her leg. Eliza laughed triumphantly as Link, thinking quickly, dropped the sword to the ground and managed to rise, making his sluggish body run past the two women, towards the tent.

He knew that Malon's cut was too shallow to have hurt the girl severely, but also knew that he had a bigger problem: if Malon was, as he expected, the real person, then she was still under Eliza's control, which meant that he would not be able to attack Eliza without injuring or killing Malon.

He risked a glance over his shoulder and saw to his alarm that Eliza was raising her palm at him. His eyes widened as she mumbled an incantation, and a bolt of lightning shot out of her hand and streaked through the air towards him, shrieking like a rocket.

He made his weak body run faster, and managed to leap into the tent as the lightning struck the ground behind him with a boom and a fizz.

Getting up painfully, his head swarming, he searched around frantically in the tent for something to fight Eliza with. Every weapon of his he spotted was useless, though!

"Link!" Roared the witch from outside. "I refuse to kill you with my magic, for that is far too quick and painless! I'm sending your friend in to retrieve you-you can kill her if you want."

_Of all the lousy, no-good tricks, _Link fumed to himself, still casting around for anything he could use. It was hopeless anyway.

He couldn't hope to knock Malon out again without causing her injury, and any weapon he took from the tent would be stripped from him.

An idea came to him just as the tent flaps opened. He grabbed what he needed as Malon entered the tent, blood dripping from the cut in her leg and scowling.

She pointed his own sword at him. "Out. _Now." _She commanded simply.

Link shrugged and managed to duck past her with his items. He began to walk towards Eliza, who was waiting with her back to the single tree, her arms crossed.

Malon caught up to him and stripped the bow and the quiver of arrows he had been holding off of him to the ground.

He shrugged. "Oh well, I couldn't have hit her from here anyway."

"What is that?" Malon asked, not seeming to care what he was saying, and indicating the last object he was holding.

"_This?" _Link asked innocently, and raised the Ocarina to his lips.

Before Malon could react, he began to play _Epona's Song_, the slow and melancholy tune that Malon had taught him all those years ago.

The girl paused, one hand stretched out in the act of taking the Ocarina off of him. A strange look passed across her eyes. Link continued to play.

Suddenly, Malon shook her head and slapped the Ocarina out of his hands, ending the song.  
"What are you trying to pull?" She scowled. "Keep walking!"

The tip of the sword was prodded painfully into his back, and Link had no choice but to keep walking, over to Eliza and the tall tree.

He felt utterly defeated. He had hoped that the music would have stirred some memory in Malon, and awaken her from the spell, but it hadn't had much effect. Epona had also not come running up from anywhere, which told him that the horse was in danger-trapped, injured, or dead.

His shoulders slumped. Even if Epona _had _ridden up, he couldn't exactly just jump onto her back and ride off- Eliza would kill Malon for sure if he did. He couldn't trade his life for hers. _Then again, _he thought with a sick feeling as he reached the tree. _Eliza might kill her regardless after he was dead._

Eliza shook her head, and forced Link to the ground on his knees once again, in front of the tree.

"You are such a handful!" She scolded. She took Link's sword from Malon and studied it.  
"A beautiful weapon." She commented. "Much better for killing you with, now that I think about it."

Link closed his eyes and rested his head back against the tree. A slight breeze ruffled through his hair.

"Before you kill me," he said, opening his eyes. "Tell me that she's the real Malon."

Eliza's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "And hearing if she is or not will make you happy?" She asked quizzically.  
"Yes."  
"Then she is Malon. I'm surprised you saw through my trick." She said, almost sadly.

The young witch turned to Malon. "Back off and give me room to finish him off," she commanded. "I'll kill you after he's dead."

Malon nodded, her expression blank, and moved away, limping from the cut in her leg. Link kept his eyes on her retreating back, feeling a fury like he had never felt before.  
"You can't do that!" He yelled. "She has nothing to do with this!"

"I can do what I want, young man." Eliza sneered. "And now you will die."

Link looked Eliza in the eye defiantly.

"I'm ready." He stated.

The witch lifted his steel sword with two hands over her head, the blade pointing downwards like a spear, ready to stab it down through his body.

"You will be a cancer on Ganondorf no more," she whispered, and plunged the sword down.

As she did so there was a _twang, _followed a second later by a thud.

Eliza's body jerked, the aim of the sword altered, and Link rolled out of the way just as the sword plunged into the earth where he had been kneeling.

Eliza looked down mutedly at her chest, her shock almost preventing her from registering what she was seeing: the tip of an arrowhead poking out from the center of her chest.

Link came to his feet, panting and weak, as Eliza looked up at him blankly.

"How..."She asked weakly. She coughed, and blood sprayed out from her mouth.

Wordlessly, Link pointed over Eliza's shoulder, and the witch turned slowly to see Malon standing some distance away near the remnant's of the fire, Link's bow in her hands and a fire in her eyes.

Eliza sank to her knees with a groan and slumped against the base of the tree.  
"I don't...understand," she managed to say, as Link retrieved his sword from the ground. "How did she break out of my spell? And when?"

Link said nothing, as Malon limped over to the two of them, the bow still clutched firm in her hands. When she reached Link he held out a hand awkwardly to her, but she brushed it aside and sank her body into his, sobbing.

Link stroked her hair gently, keeping his eyes on the witch in case she tried anything. Malon brushed away her tears and turned to Eliza, anger radiating from her eyes.  
"I broke out of the spell when I heard _Epona's Song,_" she said. "But I knew I couldn't help Link right then-we were both injured, and would probably just be mowed down by your spells. So I pretended I was still under your influence."

Eliza gaped at her. "You brat!" She snarled. Her eyes flicked to Link. "And you knew this?" She demanded.  
Link shook his head. "I didn't think it worked, honestly. I was ready to die. But I had brought my bow and arrows out with me in case I _could _get Malon back to normal- I figured she'd have to be a pretty good shot, being a country girl."

Eliza uttered a string of abuse. "When I get this arrow out of me, I'm going to-"

"You won't do anything," Malon snapped, interrupting. She moved away from Link, still glaring at Eliza. "Kill her." She said.

Eliza's eyes widened. "You wouldn't! Not the _hero _of Hyrule," she said, spitting the words.

Link gripped his sword. "You're too dangerous to let live. If you hadn't brought Malon into this, I might have let you live. But not now. I have to make sure you never hurt her again."

Eliza screamed in rage as Link plunged the sword into her body with all his might, forcing the sword through her and into the trunk of the tree. Her body twitched, and then her head sank forward, the light in her blue eyes fading.

Link panted, staring at the body of the woman that had sought to kill him and Malon. He turned to Malon, pain showing in his eyes.  
"I'm really, really sorry-" he started, but Malon wrapped her arm around his and led him away from the tree.

"I don't want to hear anything at the moment," she whispered, limping. "Let's just get out of here, quickly...oh. Do you...need your sword back?"

Link shook his head, frowning. "No. Leave the sword there-let it be a warning to anyone else who attempts what she did." He managed a small smile, a miraculous effort. "Besides, I need a new sword anyway."

* * *

They packed up the tent and gathered all their items, and then went looking for Epona. 

After ten minutes of searching the surrounding plains they found her, lying on her side in the grass and not moving.

Malon burst out crying when she spotted the body, and Link sprang forward quickly to the horses' side.

"Link..." Malon moaned, collapsing to the grass on her knees. "I can't handle this. She's...  
"...going to be a pain-in-the-ass getting up," Link finished for her grumpily, and she looked up at him, confused and bewildered.

He turned and gave her a grin. "She's alive, she's just been poisoned. Look; she's breathing shallowly."

Malon's crying resumed, but this time it was with relief. Link gazed around the horse at the ground, and chuckled.  
"Apple cores: someone's been taking advantage of her fondness for apples, I think."

Malon put a hand to her mouth, shocked. "Link, I think...I think I might have done that. The memory's faint, but I seem to recall injecting poison into the apples and..."she choked up. "And leading Epona out here and feeding her the apples after you had gone into the tent!" She bawled. "How could I? Epona trusted me completely, and I poisoned her!"

Link patted her head, at the same time trying to think of how to get Epona un-drugged. "It's not your fault: you were under someone's control."

Malon continued to cry, however, and Link had to leave her and fetch water for Epona.

After an hour of splashing the horse with water and waiting for the poison to wear off, she finally woke up, standing up shakily and looking around at her surroundings in bewilderment. She nuzzled at Link's hand, frantically worried, and Link, laughing, had to calm the horse down.

* * *

"Link, will you...sleep with me tonight?" Malon asked him while blushing, later on. 

Link stared at her, his suspicions rising."_What?"_

He, Malon and Epona were in a small clearing, surrounded by trees. Link preferred trees to open plains; he felt connected to them and they reminded him of his first home. They had walked away from the site where Eliza's body lay, until they felt they were far enough away to be able to set up camp with some peace of mind.

Now, Malon blinked at him. "Oh, I don't mean like _that!" _She said, growing even redder. "It's just that I don't think I can go to sleep by myself, without you next to me. You make me feel safe."

"But because of me you were almost killed!" Link protested.  
Malon shook her head. "_None _of this mess is your fault, believe it or not. Come lie next to me and I'll explain."

Link did what she asked, crawling into the tent next to her and lying down, his body practically screaming its thanks at him.

"I've been thinking about it for the past couple of hours, and I think I know what happened now..." She began.  
"Good. Because I don't," Link mumbled.  
She laughed. "Eliza tricked you by saying I was a clone, but that was a lie, of course. And she also said that she just _happened _to come across you when you were saving me from the wolves, but that was just another lie to make the bigger lie seem plausible."

Link scratched his head through his hat, now back on his head where it belonged. "So what _did _happen, and why were you in the field that night?"

"Remember how I told you that I was running away from my farm? Well, that was true, but I believe that Eliza must have picked me to be bait from the very start. I think she gave me that extra mental push I needed to run away, because I remember leaving the farm suddenly that night, and walking and walking until I reached a particular spot." Her brow furrowed. "Then I just stopped, and waited, and then all of a sudden you were flying past me on Epona and the wolves were attacking. I didn't want to tell you the whole truth-that I didn't know _exactly _why I was in the field, because I thought I was just going a bit crazy, to be honest."

Link nodded. "I suppose that makes sense. But what about that morning when you wrote the note and left, and then came back? I mean, I know that Eliza made you turn back, but if you were half under her control why did you leave in the first place?"

"I left because I really didn't want to use you for my selfish needs. It's hard to explain, but I think that I was only under Eliza's control for some of the time, where I'd come to somewhere not knowing what I've been doing." Malon said, and as she spoke she wriggled her body closer to Link.

"So how much of what you did and said was _you_, and not Eliza manipulating you?" Link asked awkwardly, afraid of what the answer would be.

"Almost all of it was me, Link! I remember the cabin, and talking to you, and riding on Epona and eating apples, and setting up camp and then lying next to you in the tent. There are just a whole lot of blanks in my memory." She said, sighing.  
There was still one thing that confused Link. "If you weren't aware of when you were being controlled, then how did you realise what was happening straight away when I broke the spell?"

Malon looked pained. "When Eliza made me attack you, I was aware of what was happening- I think maybe because I knew that I _really _didn't want to hurt you, and I was trying to fight it. But I just couldn't! It was like something else was in my body, and I could only look on hopelessly. It was so confusing...most of the time I thought I was something else- a clone working for Eliza, but at the same time I could feel a part of me-of Malon-struggling to come out. And I could feel the spell slip slightly when you told me that you knew it was really me."

Link nodded, and then remembered that he had wanted to ask her something else.

He felt even more awkward now. "Um...what do you remember about the tent?" He asked quietly.

She reddened, and looked away. "I don't really want to talk about that, because it's embarrassing, but I remember asking you if you had a girlfriend, and then I remembered that I sort of felt like kissing you...and then suddenly I _was _kissing you, but didn't know why. The rest after that is hazy, like I told you."

Link nodded, but was too busy thinking of what Malon had just said. "So you..._wanted _to kiss me?" He asked shyly.

"Well, yeah..." she admitted. "But I wouldn't have done it normally, so...so don't count that as our first kiss or anything, okay?" She said, struggling with her words.

Link thought that the way she had said it made it seem like there would be _other _first kisses, but he decided not to say anything. He lay back and pulled Malon close to him-it was nothing sexual, he just needed her close, and still felt too shaken to deal properly with all that had happened.

Malon snuggled next to him. "We'll speak more about it later...I just need to sleep now."

"Me too."

As Link drifted off to sleep, his last thoughts did not dwell on the witch who had tried to kill him, nor on any other nasty occurrence. Instead, he only felt relief that Malon was _real_, that she was safe, and maybe most importantly, that she was lying next to him.

* * *

**I could put "The End" here, and leave it like that, leaving it up to people's imaginations what would happen with Link and Malon. But that would suck, so I won't. :p There are a couple of things that need to be tied up, and I'm having fun writing this, so it will go on for hopefully a lot more. **

This chapter _did _sort of wrap up the first four chapters nicely however, so think of it as an end to Part 1 of the story. Kind of a sad chapter, really, but everything worked out in the end.

The reason I made myself write this chapter ealier then I had planned and get it up on the site? It's my birthday tomorrow, so I thought I would try to get a chapter up as a way to celebrate.  
I'm twenty now, nooo! No longer a teen! I don't feel mature enough for twenty...sigh.  
I'll stop whinging though, to mention that a good birthday present would be some reviews! ("You're a monster!" The reader says). Hehe, sorry. :p

Oh, I've decided to bump the story up to an "M" rating, just in case. If you're worried about the higher rating, be aware that it's just there because the story is and might get a bit violent, but there still won't be any swearing or anything.

I want to thank a few of my readers especially: DesertQueen, Rynada and BabyGurl278. You gals (assuming you're all female, which I'm pretty sure:p) are awesome, and have each leftreviews for all three of the chapters I had up. Thanks very much!

I need to do a shout-out for a Link story by Robbo the Fantasia '92, which is called "The Legend of Zelda: The Immortal Orchestra". The guy's a good writer, and it's a great read, but he's gotten no reviews, except the ones I've left, which I think sucks. So help him out if you can...

Rynada also has a cute and amusing short story up about Cuccos, so check that out as well if you want a chuckle.

Okay, think I've finished plugging other people's stories now. :p Thanks once again to all my readers and reviewers, and stay tuned in the future for more of Link's Trials.


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter represents a change in direction for the story. Hope everyone likes it. It's a bit different, but I really thought hard about this one! **

* * *

The girl awoke to almost total darkness, disoriented and afraid. At first she couldn't comprehend just _why _she was feeling fear, and then a montage of memories arose in her mind-of witches, storms, control and death. 

Gasping, she struggled to sit up, her heart beating wildly in her chest. She looked around her, and saw that she was lying in a tent. Panic filled her.

The witch, Eliza, was outside, killing Link, and soon she would come to kill her too, frying her with magic. She had to escape!

Before she could move, however, her tired brain remembered that Eliza was dead, so it wasn't possible for the witch to be outside, waiting to kill her.

She gazed around the tent again, her vision adjusting to the darkness, and she spotted the still form of Link lying next to her, dead asleep, his chest rising and falling slightly from his breathing.

Clutching at her chest with one hand, she tried to calm herself.

_Get a grip, Malon! _She told herself sternly. _You just woke up confused, that's all. Your safe now. Safe._

_Yes, I am safe. _She realised, glancing once again at Link with admiration.

The poor boy was exhausted, and must have been drained of all his strength; Malon suspected that he would be out for quite some time.  
She lay back down, looking up at the roof of the tent and allowing her mind to focus. She must have only been asleep for around five hours at the most, she guessed.

She shuddered. Eliza had attacked them only yesterday, hadn't she? Not even a full day had passed...

Even the thought of the witch filled her with fear, loathing, and disgust. She gritted her teeth as she remembered how she had been literally _used, _made into some twisted puppet for the insane woman to use in her attempt to take Link's life.

In a flash, her mind focused on the moment she had limped away from Link and Eliza, and suddenly it was as if she was back there again...

* * *

_Faster...go faster! Link's going to die!_

_She cursed the wound in her leg which was prohibiting her any real speed. Up ahead, she could see the bow and arrows lying on the ground, and hurried as fast as she could, at the same time not wanting to run and alert the witch that she was no longer under her spell._

_"I can do what I want, young man." Malon heard Eliza say distantly, over by the tree. "And now you will die."_

_Malon's heart leapt to her mouth-she was out of time! But she was now at the bow, and was not going to give up._

_Bending quickly, she snatched up the bow, and fumbled with an arrow, trying to set it to the bow with shaking hands._

_"I'm ready." She heard Link say defiantly.  
No! No, Link! She thought. Fight it! Fight her!_

_She could tell that Link had given up, though, and that he was prepared to die. And it was all her fault!_

_Anguish and rage filled her, and she lifted the bow, aiming it with one eye closed at the back of Eliza, the witch's cape swirling in the wind._

_Her hands shook, causing her aim to shift sideways. She gritted her teeth. The bow was drawn back, the arrow quivering in her grip._

_Eliza raised Link's own sword high above her head, readying the killing blow._

_Malon tried to steady her aim, feeling hopeless. She knew she had only one shot, and that she should have fired a couple of seconds ago. _

_"You will be a cancer on Ganondorf no more," she barely heard Eliza whisper to her hero. _

_Fire! FIRE! Now! She screamed at herself. The pressure was too much...she was going to miss!  
Eliza's body stiffened as she dropped the sword, and Malon swung the bow around and released the arrow with a snap.

* * *

_

Her mind back in the present, she sat up once more in the tent, her body suddenly shaking, and clutched at her stomach. 

She suddenly felt like throwing up. After she had released the arrow, she had almost thought she had missed her target completely.

Once she saw that the arrow had pierced right into the back of the witch however, she felt ecstatic, and would never forget Link's eyes moving to her and widening in shock and disbelief.

_But..._she clutched more tightly at her stomach, doubling over as she sat. She could have missed so easily, and Link would now be dead. She took another look at the boy, his mouth slightly open as he breathed easily, his body taking a much-needed rest.

Not only that, Malon continued to think, but she now had blood on her hands. She had shot an arrow right through someone, and then later had killed that person.

She could not lie to herself about what happened; _she _had killed Eliza. It was she who had told Link with malice to kill the witch, so even while Link had plunged his sword through Eliza, it was still her fault.

If she wanted to, she could have found some way to get Link to leave Eliza how she was- incapacitated- and they could have just left.  
But she had felt angry about being used, about being _controlled, _and in her rage she had demanded the satisfaction of the witch's death.

Unable to bear the cramped tent any longer, and suddenly feeling hot and dizzy, she scrambled outside into the cool night air and hurriedly took in gulps of fresh air until her nausea passed.

Tears slowly started to roll down her cheeks.

She was only fourteen! And yet she had already almost been killed, had already _killed!_

The tears started to come faster, and her body shook with her crying. She stared up at the clusters of stars in the heavens above, sparkling innocently, and sobbed loudly.

"I'm sorry, papa!" She whispered, for she suddenly had the bizarre notion that her father somehow already knew what she had done, and hated her for it.

Hadn't she only been with her father several days ago, collecting eggs from their Cuccos and discussing trivial matters like whether to sell one of their old horses that season, or wait for the next?

She sobbed more loudly, just for the hell of it: she figured that if she let it all out now, had a good cry, then she would be okay for when Link woke up, and would not embarrass herself.

She chuckled slightly, and suddenly she was laughing as well as crying.

_I just killed for him! _She told herself. _And now I'm worried about what he might think if he saw me crying?_

Her crying finally died down, and, wiping her eyes, she returned to the tent and lied down once more. Tomorrow she resolved to try to go back to her usual, cheerful self; she would get through this, somehow.

* * *

When she next woke, sunlight was streaming in through the tent, and the birds chirped noisily in the near-by trees. She sat up, rubbing at her eyes, and was surprised to find an empty space next to her where Link had been sleeping. Slightly alarmed, she exited the tent, not caring much that her hair must look a dreadful mess. 

At first glance she did not recognize the person that was sitting on a large fallen branch in front of the tent, fiddling idly with a twig by poking at the dirt with it.

Then Link looked up at her, for of course it was he. For some reason though, he was no longer wearing his usual green outfit, and was instead clad in a fiery red suit with a matching hat.

He must have noticed her stunned reaction, for he grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I figured a change of clothes was in order- I had been wearing my other clothes for so long I was beginning to become part of the environment," he chuckled, his voice slightly raspy from sleep.

Malon studied Link for a few seconds, deciding that, apart from the dark circles under his eyes, and the multiple wounds he carried on his body, he looked well-rested.

She walked over to sit opposite him on a dry patch of grass.

"I guess I'm just surprised because I know you have a lot of other green clothes with you," she admitted. "I mean, it's kind of your calling-card, that green outfit."

Link rubbed at the back of his head. "I know. I just thought that a change was in order. After...everything that happened." He looked away from her and pretended to study the sky.

"Are you still blaming yourself?" Malon accused, a small smile on her lips.

Link looked back at her, his blue eyes suddenly serious and piercing.

"I let you down, Malon! If it weren't for your fast thinking, we would both be dead." He said.

She clicked her tongue and pretending to be offended. "I know what the real problem here is, Link! You just hate the fact that a girl saved your life!" She teased softly.

She could see that Link was trying to remain straight-faced and serious, but a smile crept to his lips briefly.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," she went on." Your the one that broke the spell, that figured out Eliza was lying to you and that had the foresight to bring out your bow and arrows."

Link shrugged, unwilling to accept her praise, and remained silent.

Malon took the opportunity to study her friend while he looked away from her, and as usual she felt a small thrill of pride and awe as she looked upon him.

He was so _calm, _she reflected. Even now, when a normal person like her had to have a good cry about everything, he just got on with his life, and did what he had to do.

"I told you, remember?" She blurted out. "When we were riding Epona- I told you that you would be able to kill a warlock."

"She was a witch."

"Same thing! And she took us by surprise, remember? You didn't have any idea that she had been following you for quite some time, so if you would have known things would have been different." She went on quickly.

_I feel like such a school-girl, _she thought, embarrassed for herself. She didn't mean to gush over Link, but she could see that he needed some cheering up.

But Link smiled, as if her words actually meant something to him.

"Thanks...I'm glad you still feel safe enough to hang around me," he admitted.

"Always." She said, smiling.

An awkward silence followed her words. Malon felt a bit embarrassed at being such a ditz, and she figured Link must be feeling the same embarrassment for her.

"I didn't expect you up so soon," she told him, to break the silence."Aren't you feeling awful?"  
He shrugged. "I'm used to getting by without much sleep, so my body just woke me up."

Malon noticed that Link was peering intently at her legs, and for a brief moment her heart fluttered at the thought that he was checking her out.  
"How's your leg?" He asked, making Malon feel like an idiot. Of course he hadn't been checking her out.

"It's better, I think...still hurts, but I can walk without limping now." She said.

"That's good. I'm sorry I...you know...cut you," he said awkwardly.

"I stabbed you in your shoulder, Link. I should be the one apologizing." She said drily, figuring that they could go on like this for ages: both of them blaming themselves for what happened, when really all of the blame should have rested on Eliza.

"So," Link said finally, breaking the mood. "I suppose we better talk about what's going to happen now."

Malon had already thought long and hard about it.

"I need to go back to the farm," she told him. "It wasn't completely my decision to leave, after all, and I want to see my father..."

"What about the problem of the ranch belonging to Ingo now?" Link inquired.

Malon sighed. "I guess I'll just have to deal with it, or find some way to fix it. Seeing my father is most important to me right now though. He's all I have."

Link nodded. "I thought you might say that. So I'm prepared to escort you back to Lon Lon Ranch right away."

"No." Malon protested. "I can get back safely on my own, so you don't have to worry about me."

"Malon, I told you that I wasn't doing anything at the moment. And I think I need a break even more now, so seeing the farm again might do me some good." Link said.

"Fine then..." She said, smiling.

Even though she had made a show of not wanting Link's aid, she really was glad he was going to go with her.

They packed up everything, and once again the two of them mounted Epona, Link in front of Malon, and began the ride back to the farm.

Malon finally began to feel that things might start to go back to normal again-she was going back to her beloved farm, back to her father, and she could perhaps get on with her life.

* * *

On their way back, they made sure to give a wide berth to the river where Eliza had been killed, not wanting to relive the events of the previous night even more. 

Malon tried to keep her spirits up, not wanting Link to know she was still feeling some trauma.

"Hey, I can show you around the farm again- you haven't been by for ages, of course." She said happily.

Link chuckled, putting on a voice to imitate how the tour would go: "And over here we have our horse, and there's our cow, and our Cucco is over there."

She jabbed him in the back, pretending to be offended. "Hey! We have more animals than that!" She cried, laughing.

Link gave Epona a rub behind the ears. "Epona should be happy to see her old home as well, won't you girl?" He said to the horse.

"If she's gotten over me poisoning her..." Malon said, groaning.

"She has," Link reassured her. "She probably knows how much you've helped us out."

Malon felt herself blush, and then she smiled, suddenly feeling very warm and content.

"How long do you think you'll stay at the farm?" She asked Link nervously.

Link shrugged. "Depends how long I can stay, I suppose. Hey, I could stay a whole week, and mooch off of you," he joked.

"That would be okay." Malon said, a bit too eagerly, she realised.

Link chuckled but did not respond, and Malon closed her eyes, wincing at what she had just said.

They never got many visitors at the farm, and while Malon had a lot of acquaintances, she didn't have many _friends _that she could invite around to the farm or anything. Especially not now anyway, with Ingo in charge.  
Link wasn't just a great friend; he was also obviously a boy, and having a boy stay over her farm for say, a week, would be exciting and fun.

Not that she expected anything to happen, she told herself. It would just be something she could look back on and remember fondly.

She liked Link, but she couldn't see a relationship forming. She knew she must bug him, and he had far more important things to do. Besides, she didn't think of herself as a good looker. Males hadn't paid her much attention in her life, and the ones that _had _were all idiots, calling out lewd suggestions to her as she went about her business and frankly putting her off having boyfriends.  
Link was different. She felt as safe as could be with him around, and sometimes fantasized about his lovely blue eyes and body as she drifted off to sleep.

They rode for a couple of days, with little happening apart from lots of easy conversations amidst a relaxed journey. As they came over a hill near the end of the third day, where the light was fading slowly from the sky, and a beautiful orange-streaked sun-set hung above them, Malon felt a thrill of delight as she finally spotted her farm in the distance.

"Almost there!" She said unnecessarily; she just felt she had to say it.

Link nodded and spurred Epona down the hill, where they broke into a gallop as the ground leveled out below them.

They were still riding across the open plains when suddenly Malon spotted a rider coming up fast towards them from their left. She pointed it out to Link, but he only nodded, having already noticed it.

As the rider came closer it was obvious that he was making a beeline for them, so Link slowed Epona to a halt and sat studying the figure, panting slightly.

"What do you think?" He asked. "Is this guy going to attack us? And if he is, do we wait here, or do we ride for the farm?"  
Malon didn't really know why he was asking her opinion for. She squinted her eyes at the rider as he came into focus.

"He's un-armed...I think," she offered.

"Then I guess we wait."

When the rider finally reached them they saw that it was only a young boy who couldn't have been more then twelve, awkwardly riding a skinny, unkempt white stallion.

The rider was breathing heavily, as was the horse, so it was obvious to Malon that they had come from a fair distance away, and that they had come fast.

"You're...Link?" The rider asked, breathlessly.  
"Yes. What's happened?" Link asked quickly.

The boy tried to suck in more air. "I've come from Hyrule Castle Town," he managed to say. "I was sent to find anyone I could to help us fight, but I never expected to find you! Almost didn't recognize you, with that red clothing!"

"Yes yes," Link said hurriedly but not unkindly. "But fight who? Ganondorf's men?"

The boy shook his head. "No; they're always there, aren't they? Too many of them now to fight."  
"Then who?" Malon asked, wishing the boy would get his message out quicker.  
"Redead!" The boy finally cried. "A few nights ago one or two of the creatures suddenly showed up in the town-the soldiers quickly fought them off and got rid of them, but then more and more started showing up!"

Malon looked at Link, who's eyes were set, his brow furrowed.

"At first everyone in the town fought back, but when Ganondorf's men realised how out-numbered they were, they all drew back to the Castle, and now all the people in the town are being set upon and being...devoured by these things!" The boy went on, his voice shaking.

"Are the people managing to take down many of these Redead?" Link asked the boy, all-business now.

The boy shook his head. "We can't! We hack their limbs off, their heads, and they go down, but they just get back up again!"

Link swore, startling Malon. "They don't even know how to stop them," he hissed, and then turned around to look at her.

"You'll have to dismount...quickly!" He said softly, an apologizing look in his eye.

She slid to the ground and looked up at Link. "I know you want to go and help them, but you've got hardly any weapons left on you!" She said, a pleading tone in her voice.  
"Can't be helped," Link muttered, but he did look a tad worried to Malon.  
"You don't even have a sword!" She cried.

"I'll find one somewhere," he said, and looked down into her eyes. "I'm really sorry Malon, I was looking forward to relaxing on your farm. I just...I can't ignore this."

In her heart, Malon knew he had to go, but she also felt like she was about to say goodbye to him for a long time again. How long would it be until he came back this time? Two years? Three? And what if he was killed?

She forced a smile onto her lips. "Promise to come visit soon, okay?"  
"I will." Link said with conviction. "I promise."  
He turned to the boy. "Lead the way," he said, and the boy nodded and awkwardly managed to get his horse turned around and pointed at Hyrule Castle Town.

Link raised his hand to Malon in a final farewell and then spurred Epona after the youth, riding fast away from her. She watched him go until she could no longer see him, and then turned and walked the last of the distance to her farm.

She promised herself she wouldn't cry, but she could feel the tears swelling up behind her eyes. Angrily she walked faster, refusing to look like a pathetic girl who had, in a way, just been dumped and left behind by a boy.

* * *

Darkness was spreading across the land as she finally reached the entrance to her farm, and she paused before going in, trying to forget about Link. But she couldn't-most of all she was worried for him, rushing into Hyrule Castle Town practically weaponless and exhausted from everything he had _already _been through. 

_Think of father, _she told herself, and made herself enter the farm, going up the slope towards the buildings at the entrance. Since the farm was built almost like a fortress, with wooden pikes surrounding the entire ranch except for the entrance, she always felt safer within its walls.

She went up to the main house, a simple wooden building that she adored, and knocked on the door, getting ready to be questioned and hugged and worried over by her father. She frowned as she heard a lot of noise coming from within the house, and wondered what it could be. Was her father throwing around the Cuccos again?

Suddenly the door was flung open and Malon found herself staring up into the eyes of a young soldier decked out in full uniform, who was staggering on the spot and held a mug of ale in one hand. She gaped at him, so shocked that she did not know what to say.

"Whooza you?" The soldier slurred, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her.

Behind the soldier, Malon could see that more of his friends had taken over her house, and were drinking and yelling and carrying on alarmingly. There must have been around ten men, all crammed into the living room of her small house.

"This is my house!" She cried, finally finding her voice. "It used to be my farm, too! Where's my father?" She demanded.

The soldier laughed at her, taking another swig of grog. "Where'sh your father? Where'sh _my _father?" He asked her. "I ain't sheen him in agesh!"

Malon could only stare at the drunk soldier. What the heck was going on?

She heard footsteps suddenly, and a shadow fell on her, created by the light from the lit lanterns hanging on the walls outside her house. She spun around to find an older, more experienced-looking soldier who was cleanly-shaven and was peering down at her with piercing gray eyes suspiciously.  
"Can I help you, ma'am?" The soldier drawled, sounding bored and unimpressed with her interruption.

The drunk soldier at the door saluted. Unfortunately he was holding his mug with his right hand, so the liquid slopped down his face messily.

"Shergeant! I wash jusht on guard duty when-" He began.

"I'm sure you were, soldier." The Sergeant interrupted. "You've done well. Now, I suggest you get back inside and enjoy the rest of the night with your comrades."

The soldier beamed happily, saluted sloppily once more, and shut the door, leaving Malon standing with the higher-ranking officer.

"Now," the man said, his voice cold. "What business do you have here at the Barracks, _ma'am?" _The last word was dripping with sarcasm.

Malon stared at the man. "Barracks?" She repeated, unbelieving. "This farm used to belong to my father, and even when it was passed to our farm-hand, soldiers should not suddenly be occupying it!" She snapped.  
She was aware that she was in trouble, and if the man so wished he could simply have her killed or taken away. But she was tired, and everything had a dream-like quality to it that made her want to get to the bottom of what was happening quickly.

"_Ah,_" the man sighed, relaxing somewhat but still looking smug and unfriendly. "You would be Talon's daughter then."

Malon nodded. "Exactly. Where is my father?" She asked, and could not keep the worried tone from creeping into her voice.

"Oh, he's quite safe. He's been very cooperative with our needs." The Sergeant said lazily.

"I want to see him."

"And so you would, after being missing for so long," He said. "Your father's been very worried."

Something about the man sickened Malon, and in fact everything about the whole situation she now found herself in stunk.  
"Take me to him." She said.

The man had already begun walking before she finished her short sentence, and he stopped opposite her house in front of the other building which they used for supplies or extra space when they needed. The Sergeant took out some keys and inserted one into the door, unlocking it.

Now Malon knew more then ever that she was in trouble. If they had her father locked up then they definitely weren't being very formal with taking over the farm. If her father was actually in there, she added to herself, trying to peer into the house.

"Go on then," the man snapped, but Malon hesitated, not wanting to fall for an obvious trap.  
"I can't see him in there," she said simply.

The man groaned in annoyance and opened the door wider, allowing more light into the house and illuminating the shape of what Malon knew was her father, sitting down on a box in the corner of the room.

Malon knew she had two choices: either she could run and try to get away...and probably be tracked down by the soldiers anyway if they had taken over the farm and didn't want her telling anyone. Or she could go into the room with her father and find out for sure what had happened, and then find some way to fix it.

"Okay then, I'll speak to my father," she said, stepping into the room. She wasn't surprised when the door closed behind her and she heard the soldier re-lock it.

"Who's there?" Came her father's voice from the darkness, tinged with worry. "It sounded like my daughter."  
"It is...I'm here, dad." Malon said tearfully, running forward into the arms of her father, who cried out with relief and held her in his large arms.

"I was so worried!" He bawled, and Malon found herself crying softly as well. She seemed to be crying a lot, lately.

"What in the world happened?" He asked, and then shook his head. "No, don't tell me right now. You shouldn't have come back, Mal!"

Malon raised her head and looked at her father. "Why not? What's going on?"

Her dad sounded angry. "This morning all these soldiers suddenly rode up to the farm. I thought they wanted some supplies or something, but then they _informed _me that the farm now belonged to them. I said that it bloody well didn't, even if I wasn't the owner anymore, because while Ingo is a total suck-up, I'm sure he wouldn't want to hand the farm over to soldiers."

"Oh, Dad." Malon chastised gently. "You shouldn't have said that; you could have been arrested or killed!"  
Her father swore, which was something he very rarely did. "I didn't care! I was still out of my mind with worry for you! Anyway, that's when they tossed me in here and locked me in."

Malon sighed, finding it ironic that she kept running into worse and worse situations.

"So what happens now? Are they going to kick the two of us off the farm, or will they lock us up or something?" She had meant it as a joke, but the look in her father's eyes frightened her suddenly.

"Mal, they don't want anyone finding out what they've done. They're _Ganondorf's _men! They want to use this place as a new training camp so they can enlist more soldiers. No..." He went on in a tired voice, "they certainly won't kick us out. We'll be forced to stay here, as their prisoners."

* * *

**I know the story is called _Link's _Trials, but seeing as it is a romance/adventure that Link and Malon are both involved in, I thought it would be good to change the point-of-view to Malon's for a bit. So far the story has focused mostly on Link, so I wanted to have her in the spot-light for a change, so we could see her feelings and attitudes towards Link and everything else. Notice how she refers to Link being calm and collected, when we know that he really isn't, inside. **

Another thing: in so many of the fan fics which focus on Malon, people will shorten Malon's name to Mal. At first I tried to avoid doing that, but once her father was part of the story, I figured that him calling her by a nick-name would definitely suit their relationship. In the game, did anyone actually call Malon "Mal"? I don't remember!

Talon, her father, is also out-of-character, but I did that on purpose. In the game, he was mostly a lovable, but lazy and bumbling man. But Malon's a strong, well-adjusted girl, and seeing as she only has her father to raise her, he must have put more effort into looking after her then the game showed, I figured. So I made him a more serious, normal father figure. Though he does still enjoy throwing around chickens. :p

And about the "sergeant" title for one of the soldiers: I think the word sergeant is normally used as a modern-term, but I really don't know. All I knew is that it sounded good, suited his rank, and so I used it. I'm not a military buff or anything, so I admit to having put in little research for the title!

For those who don't know, or forget, "Redead" are those undead, zombie-like creatures that were in The Ocarina of Time, and The Wind Waker.

I'm so sorry for prattling on! There are heaps of great Malon and Link stories out there, and I'm just trying to make mine different and as enjoyable as I can. I've been reading BabyGurl's new Link and Malon fic at the same time. Her Malon is sort of similar to mine, so I'm trying to make an effort to make mine kind of original, but it's hard! Writing's so hard:p Haha.

Thank you to all the reviewers! Reviews mean a lot to me. If you're reading this, as always I gotta say please, leave a review! I was listening to The White Stipes a lot as I wrote this chapter. Rock on! Whoo! (Is dragged away from the keyboard by a reader who is sick of him yacking on and is then clubbed on the head)


	6. Chapter 6

**The continuation of Link's-and Malon's-Trials. Rated M for a reason!**

* * *

Malon paced the length of the dark and mostly bare house for what seemed like the hundredth time, growing more frustrated by the minute. She wished that they could get some light into the house somehow, for the darkness was beginning to grate on her nerves for some reason; the only source of light came from the moon, which shone through a window set into the side of the house. 

The sound of laughter and drunken antics swept in from the house opposite theirs, as the guards continued their party. She must have only been locked in the house for maybe three hours at most, but it felt like twice that to her.

"We have to think of some way to escape," her father muttered once again, from where he sat on an over-turned apple box.

For the first hour of being held captive, Malon had told her father a made-up story of what had happened to her-she knew she couldn't tell him what _really _happened, at least not now. Her father was a trusting man, but she figured that even he would find it hard to believe that she had been bewitched by an evil woman in order to be used as bait to capture and kill the hero of Hyrule. She scarcely believed it herself, and it had happened to _her!_

So she had told him that, after writing the note addressed to him and running away, she had fallen and hit her head, and had been rendered unconscious for some hours, before coming to and then making her way slowly back to the farm, after she realised that she couldn't leave her father after all.

It was a pretty poor story, she knew, but it was the best she could come up with on the spot when her father questioned her.

"I still blame myself," Talon had sighed. "I knew you must have been feeling pretty bad ever since Ingo took over the farm, but I was too busy helping out around the ranch to do much about it."

Malon had assured her father that it wasn't his fault, feeling bad that he wanted to take the blame for her running away.

Now, Malon turned to her father, fiddling with her long hair as she tried to think, which was a habit for her.

"I know we have to escape, but I can't see any way that we can. This house is empty of anything that we could use to get out of here, and even if we did manage to get out they may have guards posted." She said.

Her father shook his head. "It sounds to me that most of the guards are busy drinking themselves into next week, so if we manage to get out of here we might be able to just slip away."

Malon sat opposite her father on the ground with her back to the wall, drawing her knees up to her chin and hugging them.

"Maybe they'll just let us go in the morning?" She suggested. "I mean, even if we tell someone that our farm has been taken over by Ganondorf's men, no-one will care or will be able to do anything about it."

Her father looked away from her, and suddenly Malon felt apprehensive.

"Dad...is there something you're not telling me?" She asked him softly.

Talon ran a hand wearily across his face; he looked like he hadn't slept properly for days.

"I didn't want to talk about it." He told her. "But you have a right to know."

Malon felt a sick feeling in her stomach, and wondered how things could get any worse. She waited impatiently for her father to continue, but it was some time before he started talking again.

"Mal, you're an attractive young girl, and...these men are brutes who have been away from any female company for a long time," Talon said hesitantly. "That Sergeant? He'll want you around as a way to boost the morale of the camp, so they might...I can't even say it, hon."

"You mean they'll rape me." Malon stated, fuming. She tried to keep the emotion out of her voice, but she couldn't, and her voice trembled.

A look of pain crossed Talon's face, and he nodded. "I'll do everything in my power to protect you, but...realistically, I can't keep you safe from around twenty men that they have posted here."

Malon stood up quickly, her body shaking with anger and fear.

"I'm _fourteen!_" She snapped, to no-one in particular. "Most of those men would be at least six years older then I am, and yet..." She stopped as she felt tears coming to her eyes.

Her father stood up and wrapped his arms around her. "Some men have no morals, honey, and Ganondorf attracts men like these. Now you might understand part of the reason why I built this farm so far away from the nearest town. It makes doing deliveries a pain, but...after your mother...passed away, I wanted to make sure I could keep you as safe as I possibly could. Yet apparently I failed at doing that, too..." Talon said, his voice cracking slightly.

Malon choked back her tears, and shook her head. "Even if you built the farm on top of Death Mountain I don't think you could have protected me forever, dad...no-one's safe right now."

Talon nodded. "I guess you're right, but it still maddens me."

Malon pulled away from her father's embrace and the two sat back down, each silent as they became lost in thought.

Fiddling with some dry hay on the floor, Malon was thinking about the soldiers, and imagined them forcing her down and violating her against her will, being powerless to stop it. She shuddered, and suddenly knew that she could not-_would _not allow it to happen. She would rather die then be forced through that torture, an event which would then stay with her for the rest of her life.

What made it even worse for her was that she was a virgin, and for her first time she wanted it to be special and gentle, and not at the hands of some disgusting soldier whom she didn't even know, and didn't _want _to know, for that matter.

For some reason she thought of Link, and imagined what his reaction would be if she was raped-would he be disgusted with her, and refuse to get near her? She thought not, but couldn't help but worry.

"I wish I could kill myself," Malon whispered dully. "That way they couldn't...you know."

Her father stared at her, his expression a mixture of sadness and anger.

* * *

The night passed gradually, and Malon somehow managed to slip into a restless sleep where she dreamed she was riding Epona across a serene meadow. 

When she awoke it was around mid-day, and she looked around the now bright room to see her dad standing next to the window and peering out.

"What's going on?" She asked groggily, getting up and joining Talon by the window.

"That cold-hearted Sergeant is putting the men through a training exercise," he whispered. "After all the drinking they did last night...still, can't say I feel sorry for them."

Malon looked out the window and saw that the soldiers were using the race track in the middle of the farm to perform running exercises-most of them looked just about ready to fall over on the spot. The tall Sergeant stood to one side, barking orders at his men.

"What's the name of the Sergeant?" Malon asked.

"Sergeant Rid," her father snapped venomously. "I made sure to remember his name so I could curse it every day."

Malon chuckled, and then noticed that the Sergeant's head was now turned towards the house, and he was watching them. He gave a final command to his troops and began walking over to their building.

"Uh-oh," Talon muttered. "Let's see what this blowhard wants."

They moved to the middle of the room and stood facing the door as it opened. Sergeant Rid entered confidently, flanked by a second officer who was holding a crossbow.

"I see you were examining my fine troops," Rid drawled casually.

Malon and her father remained silent, Malon liking the man less and less each time she saw him.

When they did not reply the Sergeant strode forward and back-handed her father roughly to the floor. Malon let out a shriek of surprise and started to walk towards the Sergeant with the intent of striking him, but the guard holding the crossbow pointed it threateningly at her, so she was forced to ease off.

"Keep your filthy hands off my father!" She snapped, her shoulders rising and falling with her angry breaths.

The Sergeant raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't talk that way if I were you, miss. Not if you want my men to remain, shall we say, _gentle _with you tonight."

Malon's heart thudded in her chest. _Oh No._

"If you touch her I'll kill each and every one of your men," Malon heard her father say from his position on the floor.

The Sergeant leant over her father with a smirk. "Just for that, I think I'll give her to the men for an extra hour."

Rid took another look at Malon, but apparently didn't have anything else to say, so he turned around smugly and exited the room with the other guard.

"Are you okay?" Malon asked worriedly, helping her father off of the ground. Talon shook his head, his expression that of dread.

"I'll be fine. We have to get you out of here though, before tonight. Start looking around for any tools," he said quickly, and began to search around the house.

Malon remained where she stood, feeling defeated. "I checked all last night...there's nothing," she said, but Talon continued his futile search.

After a minute of checking around he roared in frustration and put his foot right through the side of a box in his anger.

Malon had been trying to remain calm, but now tears streaked down her face. "It's okay, dad. It's not your fault." She tried to comfort him between her sobs.

Talon sat down and put his head in his hands. "They cleaned this place out when they put me in here," he said softly. "If only I had some kind of weapon, I could take down as many men as they threw at me, I think."

She had never heard her dad speak with such acid, but right then her thoughts were, perhaps selfishly, more on herself. How could this have happened? Had she survived being attacked by wolves, and by Eliza, just so she could return home and be raped?

She looked around for anything she could use to kill herself, or to kill others, hardly believing what she was thinking. But there was nothing, of course.

Sitting back down on the floor, she resumed crying. She knew she should somehow pull herself together, but she couldn't. It was hopeless.

She felt her father sit down next to her and hug her tightly, but didn't stop crying; _couldn't _stop crying, and her body shook uncontrollably.

* * *

She must have drifted off at some point, exhausted from crying, for when she next came to the room was once again coated in black, and night had fallen. Talon was sleeping next to her, but she barely registered this fact as she got to her feet in a hurry and crossed over to the window, her heart beating quickly. 

Looking outside, she saw that the place seemed deserted, but her ears told her that the soldiers were once again partying over at her house. She wondered idly where all the alcohol was coming from, but thought no more of it as she looked up at the sky and saw that it must be only around eight at night. Panic filled her instantly, for she thought that it was likely that once the soldiers were drunk enough not to be bothered by their consciences, then they would come and take her away.

She figured she only had a couple of hours left, at the most. She blinked away the tears before they could fall, telling herself that she had done enough crying.

She glared at the window, wishing she could just climb out of it, but her father had built it to be impassable, with small wooden slits that could not be broken without a heavy or sharp tool.

For some reason her thoughts returned once more to Link, and she hoped that he was okay. The thought even entered her head that perhaps Link would come back to the farm, and would save her, but of course that was just silly, she told herself. Maybe if she had gotten some equipment from Link before he left her, she could have...but no, the soldiers would have taken anything she was carrying on her away, she realised.

Defeated, she sat back down next to her sleeping father and waited miserably, trying to keep her mind blank.

Around half an hour passed, with her jumping at every loud cheer or roar that came from her house. Beside her, Talon snored away, and she looked down at him fondly. Only he could sleep through such a commotion...

Suddenly, she looked up and noticed that a shadow in the shape of a person's head had appeared along the floor of the room-someone was standing outside the window!

Her heart thudded, because who could it be but a soldier, about to enter the house and grab her?

Then a voice came to her, low and urgent.

"Hey...who's in there?" It said, and she felt a tinge of hope when she realised the voice was too high to be from a grown man, which ruled out all the soldiers.

"Link? Is that you?" She whispered loudly, and ran over to the window.

No reply came, and she looked out the window hopefully, but could see no-one.

Now, apparently, she was hearing things. The voice could have easily belonged to a soldier after all, she thought, especially if they were all drinking, for the alcohol could alter their voices.

Her hope died, and she was about to turn away from the window when suddenly a head appeared in front of her, upside-down, almost making her scream out loud in shock. At first she thought that it really _was _Link, but then she could see that it clearly wasn't.

The head looked like it belonged to a normal boy of about her age, and yet she was startled to see that he had blood-red eyes.

That was just about the only feature of his face she could determine however, as his head was wrapped up in what seemed to be some sort of white turban, and his mouth was covered in a similar, white bandage-like material that came up from his neck.

Malon could only but gape, and the boy studied her mutely.

"Are you a prisoner?" He asked her simply. His voice was high, and yet had a husky quality to it that she found alluring.

Malon nodded quickly. "Y-yes, I am. Me and my father. Who are you?"

The teenager frowned but did not answer. Malon saw that he had two large sheets of blonde hair emerging out from under the bandages on his head, one of which was so large that it almost completely covered his left eye. She figured that had he not been upside down, his left eye would be hidden.

His eyes went past her to the form of her father. "Is he hurt?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No, he's fine; just sleeping." She decided she needed to be direct. "Look, we need to escape...can you help us?"

She realised that she didn't know who this guy was or how he was allied, but she also knew that she couldn't afford to let any opportunity to escape pass her by.

Again, the boy studied her with those weird eyes of his. "Are you with Ganondorf?" He asked.

"Would I be in here if I was?" She said, a bit ruder then she had intended to be. Her mind was screaming at her to escape, any way she could.

The boy seemed to think for a moment, and then finally nodded, which looked weird to her seeing as he was upside-down. She figured that he must be hanging from the roof of the building somehow, and since she could see his arms he must be using just his legs to keep himself up.

"I'll help get you out," he said in his husky voice, and her heart leapt.

"It's a bit risky tonight, however," he added, to her dismay. "Can you wait until tomorrow night?"

"No!" She exclaimed, and he looked surprised at her reaction. "I mean...I have to get out tonight. _Now. _Soon the soldiers are going to come for me, and..." she let her voice trail off, hoping he'd figure out what she was trying to say without her having to spell it out for him.

Thankfully, he nodded again. "Okay. It might be tricky, but-"  
Whatever he was about to say next was interrupted by the sound of the door opening with a squeak, and Malon spun around with a gasp to see a soldier enter the building and close the door behind him, where it was re-locked by someone outside. He was holding a crossbow in his hands and had a manic gleam in his eye.

"Thought I'd start the party a little early," he chuckled nastily, advancing across the room slowly. Some red hair peeked out from under his helmet, and a large scar framed a side of his face. Malon looked out the window from the corner of her eye and saw that the boy had disappeared.

"Touch me and you're dead," she snapped, which she felt was an empty threat considering she had no weapon.

The soldier, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, ignored her and laughed humorlessly. He circled the body of her father, who was still asleep on the floor, shot a wary glance down at the man, and continued forward.

He had almost reached her when Talon suddenly sprung up from the floor and kicked the back of his knees forward, sending him kneeling to the floor with a shocked cry.

Her father then grabbed the crossbow, which was still in the soldier's hands, and tried to wrestle it off him. The soldier was fit, however, and to Malon's horror he turned around, struggling against her father, and slowly pointed the crossbow at his chest.

"No!" She screamed, rushing forward, at the same time seeing that she wasn't going to be able to reach the soldier before he fired the weapon.

She felt something fly past her head through the air with a whoosh, and suddenly several objects thudded into the side of the kneeling soldier. He gave a grunt of pain and arched up, the sudden distraction giving Talon the chance to turn the crossbow around and fire it point-blank into the side of the man's head.

Malon turned away after the man had fallen lifelessly to the floor, not wanting to look into the eyes of a dead man.

_So much death..._she thought, but told herself to snap out of it and to get moving.

She turned back to the body and looked down at it to see that there were three small, star-shaped objects embedded into the side of the soldier-the boy must have thrown it from outside just in the nick of time; she marveled at his aim.

Her Dad lowered the crossbow to the floor and moved around the body to hug her.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," he told her.

_So now we've both killed, _she thought ironically.

"It was either us or him," she told him, squeezing him back. She looked up at him. "I thought you were asleep though?"

Talon gave a wry smile and shook his head. "I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that you're in danger. But I thought I could easily pretend to be asleep, so I could get the jump on anyone who tries anything. Looks like it worked."

"So you've been awake the whole time?" She asked, disbelieving.

"Yep. I overheard your conversation with whoever's outside the window, too." He said, and tapped the ninja stars sticking out of the soldier's side with his boot. "I'll have to thank him for doing that."

Malon went over to the window once more, and called out softly. A second later, the boy reappeared, but this time he was the right-way up, standing on the ground.

"Is everyone okay?" He asked.

Malon realised that the boy had been mainly asking questions of her, and hadn't given much information himself. She figured that didn't matter though, seeing as he had probably just saved her father's life, so she nodded and thanked him.

"I couldn't afford to attack straight away, or else the guard might have alerted the others," he explained, though Malon hadn't even brought his delayed attack up.

"That doesn't matter," She whispered urgently. "We have to get away now, or we're dead."

"I agree." He said, and she had the sudden realization that he spoke far too properly to be a lower-class citizen.

"How can you get us out?" Malon asked, focusing her mind on the problem at hand.

"I think I'll be able to pick the lock of the door. Most of the soldiers are still in the other house, and the few that weren't I knocked unconscious, so you two should be able to just sneak right out of the farm." He explained in a low tone, looking around anxiously.

"That easy?" Malon said, raising an eyebrow.

"Hopefully, yes."

Her father was standing behind her, listening to the conversation, and now nodded.

"If we wait any longer we'll lose this chance," he said. "Pick the lock, lad, and we'll be out of here."

The youth nodded and disappeared around the side of the house with such speed that Malon was taken aback.

Her father held her hand and led her over to the door, where they waited with bated breath. They had left the spent crossbow on the ground, for it had only had the one bolt on it.

A few seconds passed, and then there was a soft click, and the door swung outwards slowly. Malon could have cried with relief, and tiptoed outside with Talon.

The boy was waiting outside impatiently, and was constantly checking his surroundings. Right in front of them, Malon could see lights on in her house, and could hear the sound of the other soldiers inside. Should the door open, and a soldier look outside, then they would be spotted straight away.

"Go now, and quickly," hissed the boy.

"What about you?" Malon whispered back, not understanding why he couldn't just leave with them.

"I still have something to do here," he whispered, and then gave her a small push towards the exit to the farm. "I might meet up with you later, but for now just go!"

Malon and her father did as they were told, sneaking past the houses and down the slope to the exit of the farm. The night felt cool and fresh to Malon, after being imprisoned in a stuffy house for so long.

When they got to the bottom of the slope, she saw that a sentry had been posted at the entrance-Rid must have decided he didn't want anybody simply waltzing into the farm anymore. The sentry, however, had been knocked out cold and now lay slumped to one side of the path. Quickly, least they be spotted at the last moment, Malon and her father rounded the side of the farm, where the tall, wooden barrier protected them from any watchful eyes.

Talon then practically swept Malon up off the ground, laughing quietly with delight.

"We did it, we're free!" He cried as softly as he could. Malon started laughing too, such was the relief that was flooding through her body.

"They thought they had us," her father gloated. "But we're gone now. Come on, let's quickly get as far away as possible."

Malon nodded, and then a thought hit her. "What are we going to do about the farm?"

Talon shrugged. "I don't really care at the moment, but I don't think there's much we _can _do. Ganondorf's obviously interested in using the farm, and he seems to get what he desires. But come, let's go."

But Malon was lost in thought. Her farm was her _home. _She had always seen it as a pure, safe place...the thought of it being used for evil purposes-torture, war, rape...filled her with horror.

"Dad, what about all the animals left in there?" She asked with sudden realization.

The look on her father's face told her enough.

"We're just going to _leave _them?" She said, aghast. "All our horses, the cattle, the chickens? At least when Ingo had control of the farm I knew that he would look after the animals!" Another thought hit her, and she raised a hand to her mouth. "Where _is _Ingo?" She asked.

A look of surprise crossed Talon's face. "I haven't really given it much thought," he admitted. "Last I saw of him he was in the barn, so..." his voice trailed away, and his face paled. "Oh no..."

"He's still back there, isn't he?" Malon cried. "We have to go back and help him!"

"We can't! We'll get caught again! And then what good will that do? Let's go and get some help, and then we can come back and rescue him."

"Dad, no-one will want to help us!"

"We can't go back," Talon repeated, shaking his head.

"Well, I _can't _leave," She said, with a conviction that surprised even her. She couldn't go, could she? She wouldn't let herself leave Ingo behind in captivity, or any of the other animals, for that matter. Sure, Ingo could be a pain, but he didn't deserve torture or death!

But how could she go back now? It would mean certain death for her, and she was weaponless.

An idea hit her suddenly, and she went over to the body of the unconscious soldier, feeling a sense of hope when she saw the crossbow lying next to him. She picked it up carefully, and saw that it was fitted with a bolt already, and held two spares.

"Mal..." her father said, warningly. "No. Don't even think about it. I can't believe you would even begin to-"

She interrupted him. "Most of the men will be drunk, and they don't know we've escaped yet. They also won't expect me to be armed. Please, dad, I have to do this. And I don't want you with me-go around to the back of the farm, where the hidden rear exit is, and wait for me there."

He stared open-mouthed at her. "Mal? What's happened to you?"

It was not spoken with an accusatory tone, nor of a disappointed tone; Malon instead noted the pride that was in his voice.

"I understand you feel you have to do this-it's exactly what your mother would do." He whispered when she did not answer, tears brimming his eyes.

"I can see I can't stop you, but do me a favor and work with that boy when you're in there. Remember, I love you very much."

She had to keep herself from crying once more as she hugged him, and then she made herself let go of him and carefully walk up the slope of the farm once more, hefting the crossbow so that it pointed out at chest-height.

Her eyes set and determined, she approached the building that used to be her house.

Her father's voice came to her. _Mal? What's happened to you?_

She had reached the side of the house, where the flame from the torches danced and flickered. She was trying to psych herself up: _They were going to rape you, and then maybe kill you. They work for Ganondorf. They harmed your father. They have your farm. They are traitors._

Anger filled her even more. She eyed the door to the building.

_What's happened to me? _She thought, answering her father's previous question in her mind.

_I guess I became stronger.

* * *

_

**Lots of dark themes present in this chapter-and Link thought _he _had it bad! This chapter also introduces another character, and many of you should be able to guess the identity of the "boy". And if you couldn't, I just gave it away there. :p  
I liked how Talon came out in this chapter; he's a very loving and protective father. **

Hmm? Is that all I have to say? Not quite. As always, this was a hard chapter to write (they _all _will be hard to write, as I want to put as much effort into them as possible to make them as good as I can), and I think writing Malon's thoughts as she waits to be assaulted kind of got to me. What a horrible situation to be in, I could not imagine having to go through that in real life, and I'm sure it's happened to a lot of people in history.

A special thanks to all the reviewers! You make writing this more fun then it would be. :) Leave down your thoughts for this new chapter, and let's get past 30 reviews.  
I actually realised I could get maybe double the reviews if I didn't write so much in the one chapter, but that's how I write, and I shouldn't change that just to get more reviews. Chunky chapters, that's what you get.

If anyone is interested, I've also started a Final Fantasy VIII story, starring Quistis, and complete with a couple of out-takes at the end which I think came out pretty well.

Well I got to say thanks once again to you guys for readingand/or reviewing my "little" story-it's getting even more interesting for me to write, as new characters come into it, so I look forward to adding more to it later.


	7. Chapter 7

**Lucky chapter 7. Enjoy...**

* * *

Malon had stopped right before the door to her house when the fear and doubt finally set in. She hefted the crossbow once more, trying to ignore the feeling of horror and dread, but there was no ignoring the logic her mind was trying to covey to her. 

_This was lunacy. _

What was she going to do, kick the door in and try to hold the entire squadron hostage with her single crossbow and three bolts? Did she expect them to just give in without a struggle and tell her where they were keeping Ingo, and then leave the farm?

She had been feeling so outraged and stirred up that she realised she hadn't given that much thought to what she was going to do, and had only acted in control and full of confidence for her father's benefit.

She looked around the darkened farm, trying to think of where else the soldiers might have imprisoned Ingo. Her mouth felt too dry, and she was shaking slightly.

Suddenly, the distant outline of the barn caught her eye.

_Of course. _The soldiers probably would have wanted Ingo out of their way, so the barn was the perfect place to-

A sudden sound interrupted her thoughts, and she spun around to face the front door to her house, her heart beating almost painfully as she realised that the door was slowly opening, and someone was coming outside.

_So stupid! Why didn't I move out of the way? _She had time to think before the door swung open fully. It was too late to do anything. She was caught.

* * *

The soldier stepped out into the cooler night air, and, unlike most of his companions, he was awake and alert. He looked around, suspiciously scanning every shadowy nook. 

Just before, he had been gazing out the window of the house, and a shadow outline had briefly went past his vision, so he had decided to investigate.

The area was deserted, however.

But he was certain he had seen _something_, and his instincts warned him that an intruder was somehow in the farm. He looked over to the building opposite him, where they were keeping the old man and his daughter prisoner.

Suppose they had got out somehow? He decided to check in on them, and started walking towards the building, his right hand resting on the sword on his thigh.

Before he reached the door, a low moan came from the building-not of pain, but of pleasure and lust. He stopped in his tracks, feeling disgusted.

He relaxed, however, as he remembered that Swen, the young and idiotic member of the squad, had left the house sometime before, muttering something about getting some fresh air.

It had been obvious to him, however, that fresh air was the last thing on Swen's mind, and he had suspected that the young soldier would try to get at the farmer's daughter before the rest of the soldiers could. Apparently, by the sounds of the moans coming from the house, he had been right.

Smiling wryly, he turned around and walked back to the house from whence he came.

He was a professional, much more then most of the other men who were partying inside the house. Still, he thought, the prospect of taking advantage of the girl excited him, and he was not about to let any thoughts on rank or proper behaviour stop his pleasure.

He opened the door and stepped back into the house, thinking that soon they would all go over to the storage area and pay their respects to the farmer's daughter.

* * *

Malon watched the soldier go back into the house, and finally allowed herself to breathe. That had been too close. 

She was sitting precariously on the roof of her house, some ways off the ground. Beside her, the teenager who had previously saved her and her father and had just saved her again, was stretched out on his stomach, his red eye still on the ground below, searching patiently for any other sign of danger. Malon looked at him with even greater admiration.

She had thought it was all over when the door had started to open right in front of her, and it _would _have been, but at the last possible moment something had dropped down in the air in front of her, and she felt herself be lifted by two strong hands, holding her under her arms and pulling her up and over the edge of the roof.

She didn't know what to think at first, as she suddenly found herself on the roof, staring at the strange, blood-eyed teenager.

He held a finger up to his lips and looked at her warningly, as down below a soldier walked out into the night, looking around quickly.

She nodded in understanding, scarcely able to believe that he had somehow managed to get her out of the way in time.  
Below, the soldier suddenly started to walk towards the building where they had previously been held, and Malon grasped at the teen's shoulder in alarm, trying to make him understand that, if the soldier went into the house and found his friend dead and the captives gone, the alarm would be raised in seconds, and the farm would be teeming with soldiers.

He nodded, his eye serious, and suddenly a low, animal moan escaped from his lips, shocking Malon; she had been watching him as his lips formed the sound, but somehow the direction of the noise changed, and it sounded to her that the moan was coming from the house opposite.

She realised that he was able to throw his voice, and was trying to create the impression that the soldier was still in the house, assaulting her.

She watched as the soldier stopped abruptly, and stood before the house, hesitating. Finally, he spun around, a small smile on his face, and walked back to Malon's house, re-entering the building.

* * *

Now, the teenager stopped scanning the ground, and turned his one visible eye to Malon, his expression questioning and bewildered. 

She realised that she had not had the chance to get a proper look at the teen, and tried to sneak in one now.

He was dressed in some kind of blue, skin-tight outfit that covered every part of his body apart from his hands, and both his upper arms were bandaged, but whether it was because of wounds or not she couldn't tell.

On his torso there was some sort of insignia- a large, red eye with three single red triangles suspended above it-maybe representing eyelashes, she thought- and what looked to be a large, red tear-drop hanging down from the centre of the pupil.

His body looked pretty muscled and toned to her, but she couldn't afford to spend any more time examining the stranger, as his accusing eye was on her, waiting for her to give him some reason why she had come back into the farm, holding a crossbow.

"Thanks for that..." she began, unsure of how to justify what she was doing to him.

As she spoke, she noticed that he had a firm, black rope attached to his legs, the other end wrapped around the weather-vane that was on the roof-he must have tied it to himself to support his weight as he lifted her up, she realised, which meant he had probably been watching her from the moment she came back into the farm, if he had prepared the rope in order to rescue her.

"Never mind that," he whispered coldly, so the soldiers in the house could not hear. "What are you doing?"

He was glaring at her, and she suddenly had the impression that he thought she had just came back to get her revenge on the soldiers.

"I had to come back," she explained. "The soldiers have someone else tied up somewhere on the farm, and I won't just leave him here. Also, I have all the animals to think of..."

He was still staring at her, his expression that of shock.

"You're crazy!" He hissed, still whispering. "You and your father could have just walked free, but you had to come back, and for what? Some stupid animals and one person. What is he, your pathetic boyfriend? People like you don't understand that the whole of Hyrule is suffering, and yet you're only worried about your livestock!"

Malon stared back at the teen, who was glowering at her nastily, and tried to tell herself to remain calm. He was angry, but he had a _right _to be, didn't he? She had interrupted whatever he was trying to do, and he had risked his life to save her once again.

But...he had no right to speak to her like that, regardless.

Obviously, he had some major grudge against the enemies of Hyrule, but that didn't give him the right to take it out on her.

"Now, I have to finish something here, and _you _have to leave. Right now. I can't have you-" The boy was saying, and something inside Malon snapped.

She aimed the crossbow at him, her look smoldering, and the teen shut up _really _fast.

"Listen, you!" She snapped, as quietly as she could. "You think I've come back for a boyfriend and some animals? How _dare _you. Firstly, the man who is being held here is my father's age, and I hate him, because he took over the farm from my dad. Secondly, you say that I should be thinking of Hyrule, and not of my own petty desires? I came back because I could not stand having Ganondorf's men use _my _farm for evil, and I am going to do whatever I can to stop them! Now, either you can go about your business here and just ignore me, or maybe you can help me and we can both accomplish what it is we're trying to do." Her voice was shaking with anger, and she could hardly believe what she was saying.

She was not the type of girl to just explode at someone, but this guy had accused her of being a simple-minded person who did not care for others, and she knew that caring for others was the one thing that she would never not be able to do.

The teen was staring at the tip of her crossbow, his eye wide, and Malon, feeling slightly embarrassed, lowered the weapon.

He took a deep breath, his eye flickering closed momentarily, and then looked at her.

"I apologize. I'm a bit nervous at the moment, and I was just worried that you didn't know what you were doing. Obviously, you do." He said.

"Let's just forget it," Malon said quickly. She really didn't have the time to be arguing with this guy anyway, particularly since they were both trying to fight the same enemy. "Can I help you? Obviously, I could use your help as well, or else I would have been captured again already."

He nodded. "Okay. Well, I should probably introduce myself first. I'm Sheik."

"I'm Malon."

"Hello, Malon. Now, I have to say that even though I rescued you and your father, there was nothing _planned _about it. The only reason I came to this farm in the first place is because I had heard rumors that it was to be used as a new fort for Ganondorf's men. Finding and rescuing you was a mere coincidence." Sheik explained.

Malon frowned. So she had been _accidentally _rescued?_ Oh well_, she figured, it probably didn't matter _why _she was rescued, just that she _was._

"How did you find out that the farm had been taken over?" She asked.

Sheik smiled slightly, or at least Malon thought he did- it was hard to tell with his mouth being covered.

"I've been tracking the Sergeant of this squadron for some time now, and happened to overhear some of his people discussing it." He said.

"Sergeant Rid," Malon hissed, feeling angry just from speaking his name.

Sheik looked slightly surprised. "You know him, then? No, of course not, you just would have found out his name while you were being held captive."

She nodded.

"Which makes me come back to the reason I'm here right now: I'm going to kill Rid." Sheik said, his voice sounding hollow and emotionless to her.

"Why Rid in particular?" She asked.

"Rid is scum, but he's high-class scum. When I first started fighting against Ganondorf's men, I began by destroying buildings that were being used by the soldiers, or by sabotaging any operation that I could. I soon learned, however, that whatever I destroyed could be re-built, and operations could be done over. No, I realised that I would have to go after the _leaders_, and tonight I'm going to put that plan into motion." Sheik whispered, his eye flashing.

Malon shuddered slightly, hoping that Sheik didn't notice.

She wondered what had happened in his life to make him so determined to fight and kill Ganondorf's men, but realised that it didn't matter at the moment, for whatever had made Sheik turn into what he was, she would still need him to help her tonight.

"I need to get to the barn," she told him. "I think that's the most likely place that Ingo would be kept, the person I'm trying to rescue." She was thinking fast, trying to form a plan in her head. "I also need to release the horses we have in the barn, but there's no way I could do that without the whole camp noticing. Rid must be in the house below, right? How are you going to get to him?"

Sheik shrugged. "That's what I've been trying to work out myself, or I would have already killed him by now."

Malon suddenly had an idea. "Look, there's a back way out of the farm that only my father and I know about. Which means that I would be able to go to the barn, release the horses, and then escape through the back. That way, all the soldiers would come out of the house to investigate the noise, and half of them will be drunk. Maybe you could pick off Rid then from afar?" She suggested.

Sheik looked impressed. "That's actually not that bad of an idea. I think that would be the safest way to go about it, too. Okay, let's do it."

Malon nodded, smiling, and then a thought hit her. "Will you be able to get away safely once all the soldiers are outside?" She asked.

"Don't worry about me. Just get to the barn, and release those horses, making sure that you steer them towards the front of the farm and past the houses, so the soldiers hear." He told her.

Malon nodded, but she worried about how she would be able to make the horses bolt past the houses without her actually being with them.

"Go now. I'll watch your back," Sheik said, leading her over to the edge of the roof before she could think of the plan any longer.

He took both off her hands in his (she was startled at their warmth), and gently lowered her over the edge and down towards the ground, where she dropped the last few inches silently, landing next to the side of the house that was pointing towards the barn.

"Good luck," Sheik whispered, and she took off without responding, trying to stick to the shadows and make as little noise as possible.

It was some distance to the barn, across an open area where she was completely visible to any soldier who walked out of her house, so at any moment she half expected to hear a cry of alarm from behind her.

None came, thankfully, and she reached the entrance to the barn, slightly breathless. A solitary torch hung outside the barn's double-doors, its flames flickering strongly-one of the soldiers must have lit it.

Malon opened one of the doors and hurried inside, well aware that she would stand out even more strongly against the light of the torch.

Inside, the barn was dark, airy, and filled with the slight musty scent of the horses that Malon had grown accustomed to and had come to love. She could see the outlines of the five horses they currently owned, each in a separate stall, and she wondered whether the soldiers had bothered to feed, groom, or exercise any of them.

She knew she didn't have time to fuss over the horses however, so she made herself walk the length of the barn, calling out Ingo's name softly in the slight hope that someone would answer.

She reached the end of the barn, and was about to turn around and go back, when she spotted a shape out of the corner of her eye, slumped against a pile of hay. She moved closer to investigate, and recognized the elongated form of Ingo, his hands and feet bound by rope and his mouth gagged.

He was lying to one side with his eyes closed, and at first she feared that he was dead. She leaned over him and shook him roughly, and to her relief his eyes flew open.

She grinned at him, but he did not give her a reaction she would expect; instead his eyes widened with horror and he struggled vainly to get away from her, his voice coming out muted and frantic against his gag.

"Ingo, calm down! It's me, Malon!" She explained, wondering what had gotten into him.

She removed the gag from his mouth, and thankfully he did not cry out, but nor did he calm down much.

"You...you can't be Malon," Ingo moaned. "She's dead."

She sighed, thinking to herself that she didn't have time for this, and slapped Ingo in the face. Normally, she wouldn't like slapping people, but seeing as it was Ingo, she somehow managed.

"Ow!" He complained, glaring up at her. Then his expression softened. "It's really you, Malon? I thought you were a ghost!"

"Well, I'm not," she said, and begun to go to work on undoing the knots in the rope around his wrists and legs.

"Thank god for that," Ingo muttered. "I've been lying here feeling like hell, since today some of the soldiers were telling me that they were going to kill you and your father tonight, among other nasty things."

Malon felt a flutter of fear at his words, but made herself keep trying to work at the ropes.

"I knew you had come back to the farm yesterday, as the soldiers liked to sit and gossip in here when they were off-duty, and they didn't seem to mind me over-hearing everything. Damn but they're an awful lot! Anyway, my one good thought was that at least Talon had you back with him for when he died, and at least he would stop being so lazy! You can't be lazy when you're dead, eh? By the way, how did you escape?" Ingo rattled away.

_Damn ropes!_ Malon cursed. She was also beginning to almost regret rescuing Ingo. He wasn't usually the most talkative of people, but apparently after being tied up for days on end he was keen to try out his one-sided conversation skills.

Finally, she managed to get him free from all the ropes, and he stood up shakily, wincing in pain as all the blood began to flow more freely about his body.

"So, is Talon still alive?" He asked, not worried, Malon noticed, just curious.

"Yes, he's fine." She answered.

"I suppose that's good," Ingo mused.

"You're awful."

Quickly, she filled him in on what was going on, and what she intended to try. Ingo didn't react too well to the news that all but one of the soldiers were still alive and well, and that she had only managed to get free with the help of one person, and not with the help of a rescue party.

She explained about the secret exit at the back of the farm ("Huh! I should've known!" Ingo scoffed.), and that she needed to free the horses and somehow make them run past the houses and out of the farm, to lure the soldiers out of the house so Sheik could kill their leader.

Hearing this bit of her plan, Ingo shook his head firmly.

"It can't be done, girl. Even you will not be able to somehow _explain _to the horses that they'll need to escape the farm, and you won't be able to get them to stampede in the right direction, and in safety. Maybe if you had that nancy fairy boy's magical flute thingy, he could lure them all over there with that song, but you don't. Yes, I know all about his annoying song- not much gets passed me, I'm afraid!" He gloated.

Malon scowled. Ingo might be an arrogant idiot, but when it came to the horses she knew that he knew what he was talking about. And even she had not figured out a way to do it, either.

"We can't do it," she said, feeling guilty. "There will be no distraction, which means that either Sheik will have to give up and leave the farm...or he'll be stupid enough to try to kill Rid regardless, and will get himself killed!"

Ingo was yawning idly, and she knew that he didn't really care what happened to Sheik, but at the mention of Rid's name his ears pricked up.

"You say that it's Sergeant Rid that kid is trying to kill?" He cried. "You should have said so earlier! That bastard tricked me into giving him the farm, and then tied me up in here for all these days without food or water. He deserves to be killed, and more!"

Ingo paced around the barn, clearly deep in thought. Malon found it rather amusing that, when it came to making other people's lives miserable, there was no person more suited for the job then Ingo.

He snapped his fingers, his face twisting up in a rather nasty smile. Malon almost expected him to start laughing evilly, with lighting flashing outside.

"I got it. Easy. If someone uses rope to hold all the horses together, and rides out on the lead horse, they could easily direct all the animals past the houses and out of the farm." He said, looking quite proud of himself.

Malon sighed. She had thought that Ingo had actually come up with a workable plan there for a second.

"We can't do that, because we both need to escape through the back, so obviously there is no-one here that can ride the horses." She said.

"I'll ride the horses."

"No, don't even try to make me ride...the...wait. What did you say?" Malon asked, figuring she mustn't have heard what he said.

"I said I'll ride the horses." Ingo said, smirking.

She just stared at him, bewildered. "_You _would risk your life to help Sheik? A couple of the soldiers might go after you, and they might even have horses of their own somewhere around here."

"I can out-run 'em. And of course I wouldn't risk my life to help some silly thug. However, I _will _risk my life to make sure Rid gets what he deserves." He said, an evil glint in his eye.

Malon blinked, unsure what to say. Still, if Ingo _did _ride the horses out of the farm, he would still be a lot safer then he is now, and it would help Sheik a lot.

"Okay," she agreed. "Gather up the horses."

* * *

Some minutes later, Malon cautiously pushed open the doors of the barn, and helped Ingo, who was now sitting astride their black mare Rally, outside. They had used the bits of rope that the soldiers had used to tie up Ingo, along with various other material they had found, to connect all the horses together. All the horses looked half-starved, so Ingo had reasoned that they should be keen to run anywhere, in the hope of finding food and water. 

All five horses were out in the open now, and as Malon looked around the farm she was glad to see that all the soldiers were still inside the house.

Ingo nodded down to her. "Okay girly, I'll try to meet up with you later on, but if I don't see you again, make sure to keep that slob Talon working."

Malon rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Good luck." She said.

"Gee up!" Ingo cried, and spurred Rally on. Soon all the horses were thundering across the farm, and when they passed the houses, Malon actually heard Ingo roar "Yee haw!" at the top of his lungs.

She had enough sense to close the barn doors before the soldiers all came scurrying out into the open, and she stood inside waiting in the darkness, listening for any noise.

She soon heard the commotion as the angry soldiers burst out into the night, and she was about to leave via the back of the barn, when a thought hit her. What if Sheik failed in killing Rid? And what if, once Rid was dead, the remaining soldiers still used her farm as a base of operations?

Once the idea hit her, she acted on auto-pilot, so as not to give her the chance to think too much of what she was about to do. She opened one of the barn doors a crack, and reached around until she grasped the handle of the lantern that was hanging outside. She brought it inside and closed the door, hoping that none of the soldiers were making their way over to the barn yet.

Moving to the rear of the barn, she stood before the largest pile of hay and took a deep breath.

It could seem almost childish, what she was about to do, she thought: if I can't have the farm, then no-one can? But deep down, she knew that it was the right thing to do.

The horses were safe, all their cows were currently out grazing beyond the walls of the farm, and other animals like their chickens would surely be able to survive.

Even though they often used lanterns on the farm, her and her father had always been careful not to start any fires, for they knew that, with all the hay, manure, and wood, a large enough fire would be able to spread and take out the _entire _farm.

With a shock, Malon realised that she was crying, the tears sliding down her face and dropping to the old, wooden floor of the barn. Sure, it was just a farm, but it was her _home. _Memories of happier times went past her mind- she had had a lot of fun growing up here with her father, hadn't she?

And before that, her father had had the best time of his life living here with her mother, she knew. The farm was just about the only thing Malon still had with her that reminded her of her mother, and now she was going to destroy it.

She thought of Ganondorf and his men, and the evil they had brought to the land. Of Sheik, the possessed yet courageous young man who fought for the people of Hyrule. And...of Link. Her hero, who she had last seen riding off into the sunset, virtually weaponless, beaten, and yet still fighting.

She swallowed, and allowed the lantern to slip from her fingers, into the pile of hay.

* * *

Malon ran across the open grounds towards the tall, back fence of the farm, and behind her the inferno raged. She had not expected the barn to go up so quickly, but the catalyst of hay and manure and wood caused the small flame to burgeon into a huge fire that soon swept to engulf the whole building. 

She could hear the shouts of the alarmed soldiers as she reached the back fence at last, and prayed that a crossbow bolt would not suddenly go through her.  
Finding the right spot in the fence, marked by a very slight and mainly unnoticeable change in the shade of color, she pushed her shoulder into the spot, until the wall shifted slightly so that she could manage to slip into the open space and outside the farm.

Once outside, she felt a thrill course through her body. She had done it! She ran forward, down the slight slope and into the clump of trees that stood near-by, her heart beating quickly and her adrenaline rushing.

Once among the trees, she felt a lot safer, but she had walked no more then a few yards when she bumped into someone in the darkness.

She screamed in fright, but the person grabbed her and held her tightly to him, and she knew straight away that it was her father. She hugged him tightly, making sure that the crossbow she was still carrying was pointing safely away and towards the ground.

"Oh Mal," her father sobbed. "Why did I let you go back? You took so long, I thought for sure that they had caught you again."

"I'm so sorry," she said, choking up on her tears.

"We'll talk later, but right now we have to go, and...good god, is the farm on fire?" He demanded in a shocked tone, and she spun around to see that the flames had spread to the entire farm, and even the high fence around the farm was now burning.

"I had to," she apologized. "Ingo helped-"  
"What? So you actually found Ingo? I just assumed you hadn't," Talon cried.

Suddenly, a minor explosion shook the ground around them, and the flames around the farm jumped higher. Malon figured that the flames had reached all of the soldiers' alcohol.

"We have to go," Malon said. "They'll be mad now."

"Bit of an under-statement, but let's hurry," Talon agreed.

He took Malon's hand in his and the two of them ran through the trees, hurriedly trying to put as much distance between them and the farm as possible. Malon took one last, regretful look back at the farm, and the flames reflected in her eyes.

* * *

**I have a lot I need to say about this chapter, so a pre-emptive apology for what will probably be a long "Author's notes" section.  
Firstly, for this chapter I did not reply to the reviews for once, as I thought I would just use this space to answer any questions of whatever, as most of the reviews talked about the "boy". It seems half of you didn't realize that it was Sheik until I said something about it, and half of you did. I was going to try to be sneaky and not say anything about the boy's identity, but I figured that if I didn't, enough of you would have worked it out anyway, and I would have gotten lots of reviews saying "You can't fool me, I know who it is!" anyway, haha. **

Sheik is a difficult character to write. From Malon's point of view, Sheik is male, but everyone should know by now that Sheik is really Zelda, using her magic to disguise herself as someone else, so Sheik is female. Sheik is also _royalty_, and I tried to portray that as well. Also, I regret using the term "boy" too much, in chapter 6, as Sheik would be around Link and Malon's age-14. So, in this chapter, I switched the word to "teen".  
I want to look at when Sheik snapped at Malon: "You're crazy!" He hissed, still whispering. "You and your father could have just walked free, but you had to come back, and for what? Some stupid animals and one person. What is he, your pathetic boyfriend? People like you don't understand that the whole of Hyrule is suffering, and yet you're only worried about your livestock!"  
**Even though Malon does not have a clue that Sheik is female, the sentence "What is he, your pathetic boyfriend?" should give her a hint. While a male could easily say that, it's more likely that an upper-class female would utter these words-in a way she is almost jealous that Malon might care for someone so much to risk her life, in the name of love. So yeah, just my thoughts, and I hope when people read what Sheik says, they'll keep in mind that it often has a double-meaning. **

Phew. A bit more to go! The farm. I changed the lay-out a bit, I think. If I remember correctly, the "barn", in the game was pretty much right next to the house, right? Well, I had it so that the barn was some ways away (more realistic, maybe?), and in the story the whole farm _feels _a lot bigger then the one in the game did.

Some people might think "you can't have Lon Lon Farm burn down!". But I can. :p It can easily be re-built at some stage, for one, and I think it fits well with Malon's determination that the soldiers _will not _use her farm for evil. In the game, the farm doesn't burn down (shock horror!), but I think it goes well in my story, and doesn't really affect things too much anyway.

Regarding how this has turned into "Malon's Trials", I almost _promise _that the next chapter should be the _last _one that focuses on Malon (and Sheik...wow, a spoiler.), and then I will see what Link is getting up to. I've actually missed the guy, it feels like he's been out of the story for ages!

Babygurl and Rynada, I think you two have reviewed _every single _chapter, and for that I'm very greatful! A big thanks to everyone who's ever left a review, keep it up! I got past 30 reviews thanks to you guys and gals. :)  
Thanks to new reviewer Lauren-I liked how she pointed out that Malon didn't jump out the window and start breaking necks and taking names. Good for a corny movie, but bad for this story. :p  
And welcome back, EndlessStrife-I remember you were one of the first people to leave a review for the story, when it began.

Oh crap. King of Talking Too Much or what. Writing about Ingo was kind of amusing-what a twisted character. Okay, please review, I'm so sorry for making your ears bleed.


	8. Chapter 8

**As promised, this will be the last chapter (for now) from Malon's point-of-view. Next chapter will be from Ingo's point-of-view!  
Just kidding. I wouldn't do that to you.  
I don't own these characters.**

* * *

It was still dark when, some hours later, Malon and her father finally stopped running next to a small pond sheltered by trees, panting heavily. 

Before she had left Ingo, Malon had arranged to meet up with him after they had escaped at the pond; a landmark that she, her father and Ingo all knew about.

Shaking with fatigue and adrenaline, Malon sat down on top of a smooth rock next to the pond, and brushed her hair away from her face. She was covered in sweat from all the running she had done, and felt like she needed a good wash.

"You think he'll come?" She spoke softly to Talon, who was leaning against a tree and panting like an asthmatic.

"Ingo? Yeah. He's like a cockroach, the slimy thing-somehow they always escape death," Talon chuckled between taking deep breaths.

She hoped her father was right, but did not have to wait long to find out- a few minutes later, the sound of horses approaching filled the air; either it was Ingo, or the soldiers had managed to track them down.

She lifted the crossbow she still carried and pointed it at a space between the trees- the only entrance into the sheltered area in front of the pond. Behind her, a tall cliff provided a wall of sorts that enclosed the small area.

Several horses trotted into her view, and Malon relaxed before she had even seen who was riding them, for she recognized her own animals.

Ingo, perched grim-faced on top of the mare Rally, still managed to chuckle when he saw Malon and her father.

"You going to shoot me, girl?" He mocked, sliding off of the horse and staggering to the ground with a curse. He slumped to the dirt, panting and wheezing, and Talon hurried over to help him up, concern showing in his face.

"Get off me, I'm not hurt," He complained, but still took Talon's offered hand and struggled to his feet. "Not much, anyway. I mean, the soldiers actually _had _a few horses of their own, so a few of them tried to chase me down. They weren't fast enough for this lot, of course, so I out-ran them easily. They couldn't even touch me, ha-ha," Ingo gloated, sitting down next to the pond gratefully.

Talon looked him over. "Um...not to dampen your heroic deed or anything, but...if they didn't catch you, why are you dirty, scratched and bleeding?"

Malon had been wondering the same thing herself.

Ingo's face went red. "I was riding really fast the whole time, and the horses were spooked, so I, er, fell off quite a bit."

Malon stifled a giggle, but Ingo caught the amused expression on her face regardless.

"Fat lot of thanks I get from you!" He roared, as Talon and his daughter howled with laughter. "I was risking my _neck _out there, my very life, when no-one else would! I deserve a medal-no- I deserve to be _knighted_!" He spluttered, a vein sticking out of his forehead.

Unfortunately his speech only sent Malon and Talon into even greater fits of laughter.

"You're all dead."

The cold voice broke through Malon's thoughts and actions, and, not stopping to think, she whirled around with the crossbow to face the entrance between the trees, her finger already squeezing down on the trigger.

She stopped herself from firing just in time, as soon as her eyes registered the shape of Sheik, standing panting in front of them.

"Sheik!" She cried, for clarity's sake: she knew her father had already met Sheik, but Ingo had not, and might do something crazy like try to bolt.

"If there had been any soldiers anywhere near here, you would all be captured or slain right now...laughing like that...what is wrong with you?" Sheik said dully, shaking his head.

Malon's face reddened slightly, but she couldn't have stopped herself from laughing. After everything that had happened, she had actually been surprised to find that she _could _still laugh.

"I'm sorry my boy, you're quite right," Talon said, and Malon noticed suddenly how tired and worn out he looked, with dark circles under his eyes and a pale complexion.

Sheik shrugged and moved forward into the clearing proper. He walked with a slight limp, and looked shaken.

"Did you...do it?" She asked him, quietly.

He looked at her with piercing red eyes, and muttered "It doesn't matter.", and Malon knew better then to press the subject.

"How did you find us anyway, boy?" Ingo asked, his eyes suspicious.

Sheik let out a hollow laugh in his strange, husky voice. "It's pretty easy to track a horse by its footprints. But it's even easier when you're following the footprints of several horses, all riding together."

Ingo grunted, grudgingly agreeing, but Malon felt worried by his words.

"So won't the soldiers be able to easily do the same?" She asked.

Sheik nodded. "Yes. That's why we need to leave here immediately. Your friend did a good job of circling the area a lot to confuse the soldiers, but that won't halt them for long."

"Okay, so we need a plan," Talon agreed, and then paused. "I don't think I thanked you properly for saving us, Sheik, you've been a great help-"

"Your gratitude is appreciated, but we need to start preparing to leave right away," Sheik cut in.

He turned to Malon. "One more question though. When I was in the farm I couldn't help but notice that the place started to...burn down. Were you behind that?"

Malon winced and nodded. "I'm sorry, I should have told you what I was going to do, but I only thought of it at the last minute, and only did it to give you more of a distraction."

"WHAAAT?" Ingo cried, forgetting his injuries and springing into the air. "You...you're saying that you _burned _down my farm? I saw the smoke and flames in the distance, of course, but I didn't think it was coming from my farm! Oh noooo...it was mine! It was finally mine! The soldiers took it, but even after that it looked like I could maybe get it back! But not _now!_" He raved madly, and fell to the ground, actually crying bitter tears of remorse and self-pity.

The three of them stared at the blathering figure, and then Sheik cleared his throat.

"It did prove to be a good distraction, and might help us get away yet. They will be out to get revenge now, but at least they will be disorganized." He said.

Malon nodded, and turned to her father sadly. "I _had _to, dad...I'm so sorry. I really didn't want to..."

"Don't worry about it. You're all that matters," Talon reassured her, ignoring Ingo's wails of "my foot she's all that matters!".

In the distance, a sudden shout erupted, and Malon stiffened with fear.

"The soldiers!" Sheik hissed. "You all have to go _now!"_

Ingo jumped up from the ground and practically flew up into the saddle of Rally, and Malon ran over to the other horses, preparing to do the same, but halted when she noticed that Sheik had pulled her father to one side and was whispering something to him.

"Malon, hold on, honey," Talon told her, still listening intently to Sheik.

_What's going on? _She thought. _Why don't we just go?_

"You're right." She heard her father say to Sheik, before walking over to her quickly.

"Mal, you can't come with us," he said to her, and she could only stare into his eyes, confused, convinced that she had mis-heard him.

"What are you saying?" She stuttered, all of a sudden feeling very unreal.

"We can't all ride out of here on the horses, it's too risky. They can track us and follow us easily, and I don't want you to be caught again." He said grimly.

"I'll take my chances! You can't just leave me here!" She protested, tears coming to her eyes.

"I'm not." Talon said, and to Malon's horror he suddenly mounted one of the horses, sitting up next to Ingo.

He looked down at her, and she could see in his eyes that what he was doing was hurting him greatly.

"Go with Sheik." He told her. "We need to split up. Ingo and I will try to lose the soldiers, and when we do, we'll meet up with you in Kakariko Village. Remember, whatever happens, I love you."

"No!" Malon cried, but her father and Ingo spurred the horses out from under the trees and were soon lost to her sight.

"Come on," Sheik warned, grabbing her elbow firmly. She thought about fighting him off, and running after her father, but knew that it would be pointless and suicidal.

Instead, she let Sheik pull her along behind him, and once again found herself running for her life.

* * *

After a while, and with dawn approaching, Malon and her rescuer fell to the leafy ground beside a huge, hollow tree which had fallen over, providing a good barrier. 

Her breath coming out in hurried gasps, and feeling a stitch in her side, she felt like crying. Why couldn't her life just be _normal_? She thought bitterly.

She felt drained, and realized that she hadn't slept properly in ages. How nice it would feel to just close her eyes and nestle on top of the dry, dead leaves, falling asleep, she thought.

She kept her eyes open, however, and turned her head to look at Sheik, who was rubbing at his foot and wincing. Even with a hurt leg, he had still managed to keep the pace, and she had to admire him for that.

She blinked, remembering how he had pulled her father aside earlier to speak to him.

"Did you tell my father we need to split up, and that you would take me with you?" She asked, her voice more demanding then she meant it to be.

He looked up at her, his eyes reproachful. "Yes." He said simply.

"You had no right to do that!" She exploded at him. "If you hadn't have said something, I would be with my father now, and-"  
"And what?" He demanded, his voice rising. "You would probably be back in the soldier's hands. Your father and his friend can take care of themselves, but if you were with them your father would have to constantly worry and look after you. It's better for everyone this way."

"Is it better for you? I don't even _know _you! But it's obvious to me that you just want to play the hero, isn't that right?" She snarled.

She knew she had gone too far, and even knew that she was just wasting her anger on him, when he hadn't done anything wrong, but she couldn't seem to stop herself.

After a heavy pause, Sheik spoke up once more. "You're right: you _don't _know me. I could have left you at your farm to die, but I didn't. I'm on _your side. _Stop treating me like the enemy." He didn't raise his voice, but kept it steady and low, and somehow that made it much worse for Malon to hear.

_What am I doing? _She thought, and held her head in her hands. _This isn't like me. What am I becoming?_

"D-don't listen to me, okay?" She said, her voice thick with emotion as she fought to keep back the tears. "You haven't done anything wrong, I don't even know what I'm saying. I can't handle this."

Somehow she kept herself from crying, her eyes staring down at the leaves on the ground from between her fingers.

She felt Sheik's hand on her shoulder, awkward but reassuring, and her mind went back to the night in the cabin with Link, and she remembered how he had held her so gently as she cried.

_Link..._she thought, almost longingly. _Is he okay? Is he alive? I wish I could go to him._

As soon as the thought entered her head, she knew that it _was _possible for her to go to him.

Her father had said that they would meet in Kakariko Village, but before that she might be able to go to Hyrule Castle Town, find Link, and talk to him. She wanted to see if he was okay first and foremost, but she also needed someone she knew to tell her that everything could be okay again. She felt safer with him, and he might even be able to travel to Kakariko Village with her, to meet her father and Ingo.

But it wasn't safe there, she knew. And she couldn't risk traveling to Hyrule Castle Town alone.

_Unless_...she glanced at Sheik, the stranger with the startling red eyes, who was still looking at her sympathetically.

"Where are you planning to go after you drop me at Kakariko Village?" She asked him carefully.

He looked taken back at her sudden mood change. "Castle Town. Why?" He asked, suspicious.

"Take me to Castle Town instead of Kakariko Village." She said. She didn't mean it to sound like an order, but she also wanted to appear confident with her decision.

He gaped at her. "What? W-why would you...damn it. Stop doing that."  
"Doing what?" She inquired.  
"Saying things like that. It's very off-putting. Out of curiosity, why do you want to go there? It's no place for a farm girl."

"I need to meet someone, it's very important to me. But I can't go by myself, it's too dangerous. I need you." She said, not wanting to tell him the whole story.

He sighed, and glanced up at the sky with his single eye. "Your father would disapprove. _I _disapprove. Can you tell me that it's worth risking your life for?" He asked.

_Was it? _She thought, but already knew the answer. "Yes."

He clicked his tongue irritably. "_Fine. _Okay, I will do this one last thing. I don't want you whining at me for the whole journey anyway," he muttered grudgingly.

She let out a yelp, and threw her arms around him, thanking him excitedly.

Startled, he pushed her off him quickly, but she was too happy to feel any rejection.

_Link...I'm coming._

* * *

After taking a brief nap, they continued onwards carefully, but it soon became apparent that they weren't being followed. 

Malon felt her spirits rise slightly, but also felt guilty over not going straight to Kakariko Village. If she was late in getting there, her father would be worried, and of course she fretted that he might be caught and killed. She couldn't let herself dwell on thoughts like those however, and tried to talk to Sheik as much as she could to distract herself, even when it was clear to her that he would rather walk in silence.

She tried to make small-talk, but Sheik would always answer in one-word sentences, preventing any proper conversation.

"So...where are you from?"

"Nowhere."

"Right. You have any family?"  
"No."

"Girlfriend?"  
"No."

"Um...you fight and move well. Someone must have trained you, right?"  
"Yes."

She was getting frustrated, so she decided to throw in something that might get a reaction.

"Did you kill Rid?"

He had been walking beside her at a brisk pace, but at her words he stumbled.

"Why do you want to know?" He asked, recovering.

"Because I want to know if your mission succeeded, and I want to know if Rid is still alive." She answered.

There was a long pause before he answered her. "No, I didn't kill him. I had a shot, but he was covered well by his men, and I saw that even if I did take him out, I would then be killed. I wasn't prepared to do that."

Malon nodded to herself, and after that she gave up trying to hold normal conversations with him. She liked him enough as a person, but he was always so uptight and hard to approach.

A day of walking passed without incident, until finally Sheik called a halt and suggested that they rest for a while, which Malon was all for. Her stomach hurt from not eating in such a long time, but they had no provisions with them, and no tools or cooking gear to even forage for food.

The area where they had stopped was grassy and pleasant, with enough large rocks and trees around to cover them adequately.

Malon leaned against a tree and shut her eyes, enjoying the sensation of just remaining still and doing nothing. The sun was setting, and Sheik got a small fire going for warmth, one which would not send out a lot of smoke.

She stretched out on the grass, preparing to fall asleep, when she heard Sheik speak up.

"You're a pretty strong person, to be able to go through all of this." He said softly.

She opened her blue eyes and looked up to where he was sitting, staring into the fire.

_Oh great, _now _he wants to talk, _she thought ironically.

She sat up, stretching. "I don't think I'm particularly strong," she admitted. "I've just had a lot of support, and I've been able to get by, somehow."

"I wouldn't have been able to go back into the farm after escaping like you did, though." He said, glancing up at her.

She laughed. "What? But you were there trying to kill someone, so of course you could."  
He shook his head. "That's not what I mean. I've had training. You haven't. That took a lot of guts."

"I suppose it did," she conceded, feeling slightly proud about herself.

Sheik stood up and came over, sitting down right next to her.

She felt slightly surprised by this; Sheik always seemed to keep his distance from her, so now that he had voluntarily moved closer, she was looking for a reason why.

"Before...you asked me if I had killed Rid, and I told you that I didn't." He mumbled, not looking at her.

"Are you going to tell me that you did?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No, I didn't kill him. But I still lied. I said that I couldn't get a shot in, but the truth is he was right in the open, just in front of me, and I could have easily killed him and still would have been able to get away safely."

"So...why didn't you?" She asked softly, surprised by this revelation.

"I _couldn't_," he admitted, his eyes downcast. "Truth is, I've never actually _killed _anyone before. It was so deliberate, I felt. I was about to send some projectiles into the skull of a man, a human, and I would end his existence. And even while I knew that Rid _deserved _to die, that he was a horrible person, I still couldn't do it. All my training...it was all for nothing, if I can't kill someone. I feel that I've failed Hyrule."

Malon was silent for a while after he had finished talking; she was trying to think of what she could say to comfort him.

"First of all, I actually think more of you as a person, because you couldn't kill him," she said, finally. "It shows you're a truly good man, with good morals. And, while you couldn't kill Rid, you _did _manage to save three people tonight. Me, my father, and Ingo. That has to count for something, right? And, the farm isn't even standing anymore, which should delay any operations further."

Sheik nodded, but still looked tortured. "I still can't stop feeling guilty. I shouldn't have hesitated."

"Well, what if you had killed him, and then got on with your life, feeling nothing? What kind of person would you be then? You can't let Ganondorf and his men take your humanity away, Sheik." She said.

He looked at her, surprised, and then nodded slowly.  
"You're right...thank you. I'm glad I talked to you about it." He said, and then, to her surprise, he pulled down the collar of bandages around his lower face, revealing his nose and mouth to her.

She studied him, smiling. He was really cute, she thought. Almost _too _cute, really, for his skin was perfect, and he had a slightly feminine look about his face.

"You look like an actual human now," she joked, and Sheik laughed.

"I need to feel the breeze on my face for a bit," he explained.

"Why do you have to always be hidden like that?" Malon asked.

"I just do. Part of my job, I guess."

"Mmm," she agreed. "That, and the fact you're from a wealthy, well-known family."

His eye widened at her words, and he frowned at her. "What makes you say that?" He asked carefully, trying to appear calm, even though Malon had already seen from his reaction that she was right.

"Everything about you, really. The way you speak. Even the way you walk and act. Plus, if you were a guy with a history of poverty and hardship, you would not hide yourself like you do. I think the reason you hide your face is because you are from a well-off family, and are well-known yourself, so you do not want to be recognized." She explained.

He looked frustrated for a second, and then smiled grudgingly. "You're right. Obviously, I have some work to do in altering the way I act."

Malon smiled. "I wouldn't bother to disguise yourself when you're around me-I'm just a farm girl, so whoever you are, I won't recognize you."

He grinned. "At least that's one good thing. So, any tips on how to act like a 'normal' person?" He joked.

"You could try not to act so uptight-you know, just act like you don't care. Throw some slang into your vocabulary. And you walk too perfectly." She said honestly.

He laughed, and she was glad to see that his defenses were coming down slowly. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind, Malon. But seeing as you can see through me so well, I should ask _you _something."

Her face fell, and she immediately expected to be questioned on a serious matter, like why she had felt the need to burn down her farm, or something.

"Is there anyone you like?" He asked, and she blinked at him.

_Okay, I didn't see that coming, _she thought. Sheik didn't seem to be the type of person who would be interested in romance or anything like that.

Her first reaction was to just deny that she liked anyone, for why would she want to talk about any stupid crushes with him? But then she felt a small thrill at the thought of talking to him about the topic; no boy had ever asked her a question like that, had ever even bothered to act interested.

"Well..." she said slowly. "There is someone I like, but nothing's going to happen."

"You don't know that for sure though," Sheik mused.  
"Oh, trust me on this. He's so out of my league it's not funny." She said, smiling sadly. "And it's just a silly crush."

"Does this guy have a name?" He prodded.

She knew that there was _no way _she was telling him the name-it would sound ridiculous to him-and anyone else- for that matter.

"Secret." She said, grinning.

"Funny name."

"Ha-ha." She said dryly. "I mean, I'm not telling you the name."

"But you have to: you know my secret." He went on, grinning.

"I only know you're from a wealthy family."

He shrugged. "That's enough of a secret."

She sighed, and was tempted to just lie down, close her eyes, and ignore him until he gave up asking her. _But it would be exciting, telling him the name, wouldn't it?_ She thought, biting her bottom lip.

"Okay, but you're not allowed to tease me about this. His name's Link." She admitted, feeling herself blush.

Sheik laughed. "That's pretty funny. It would be a bit hard going out with someone who has the same name as the Hero of Hyrule, I guess." He chuckled.

She knew she would have to embarrass herself even further now. "No, I mean...the Link I like is _the _Link." She muttered, and Sheik's laughter turned into a shocked coughing fit.

"_What? _You have a crush on _the _Link." He stated, when he could talk again. "But I suppose a lot of girls would feel grateful that he's trying to save the land, even though they haven't met him."

"Oh, I've met him." She said, feeling that she had to defend herself now. She didn't want to appear like some silly girl who had a crush on an idol whom she hadn't even met.

"I first met him three years ago, and just a few nights ago, when I was away from the farm, we met again, and he kind of saved my life. In fact, the reason I'm on my way to Hyrule Castle Town is to see if he's okay," she blurted out.

Sheik's jaw dropped. "You've _got _to be kidding me."

Her face was really burning now. She shook her head.

"Well...that's something." Sheik murmured, still shocked. "I don't suppose he knows you're coming to find him?"  
Again, she shook her head.

Sheik chuckled. "Funny. I've met Link once or twice, you know. He's a pretty nice guy."

"I know," Malon sighed. "About him being a nice guy, I mean, not about you meeting him..."

"When you pick a crush you certainly go all-out, don't you?" Sheik grinned at her.

"You just asked if I liked anyone, and he's the only person I would want to...um, be with, or whatever. I don't honestly expect anything to happen, of course, and I'm not going to try anything to make it happen." She explained.

"That's a shame, because you probably should. I bet Link likes independent, headstrong gals like you," Sheik said seriously.

"Stop it," she chided. "There's no way he would ever be interested in me like that."

Sheik put his hands behind his head, leaning back on a tree and looking like he was enjoying himself. "I bet he is. Has anything happened between you two? Even something small?"

"Um...he held me once, but I was crying, so I don't suppose that counts. Oh. I...kind of...kissed him, as well." She admitted, knowing already that she would now have to explain herself even more.

Sheik looked like she had just told him that she could levitate.

"WHAT? You kissed him? But you just told me that you wouldn't try to make anything happen! Am I missing something?" He demanded, dumbfounded.

Malon frowned. She didn't mind talking to Sheik about this stuff-she had no-one else to talk to- but at the same time she didn't understand why, when she had first told him that she liked Link, he hadn't just said something like "Really? Haha, that's funny," and moved on to another topic like most guys would.

"I kissed him, but I wasn't under my control. I don't want to go into it, but a witch was controlling me. Ugh, that sounds crazy even to me. I'm sorry." She said. "Oh, I then stabbed him." She added. "Again, I couldn't do anything about it."

Sheik just stared at her. "Hold up. You can't just tell me that much and expect me to nod and not ask what the whole story is. Come on, tell me what happened. We've got nothing else to do but sleep, anyway."

Again Malon wondered why he was so interested, but she sighed and launched into telling Sheik the whole story, figuring that she might as well tell him the true version.

When she had finished, Sheik was silent for a moment, and then spoke up. "And then...you came back to your farm and got captured by the soldiers. No wonder you kept snapping at me, after all that!"

She nodded silently.

"But it still sounds to me like he cares for you a lot. You don't _hold _someone in your arms like he did if you don't have feelings for that person, in my opinion." Sheik pointed out.

Malon sighed. "Maybe...it _was _pretty nice," she admitted.

Sheik sighed as well. "Yes, it would have been." He then added quickly, "I mean, for anyone being held, I don't mean being held by Link," as if he didn't want her to get the wrong impression.

Malon nodded, distracted by her sudden strong feelings towards Link. She had known all along that she had liked him, but all of a sudden, speaking to Sheik about it, she felt like practically throwing herself at Link and kissing him, _properly _this time.

_I wish he was here with me right now, _she thought dreamily, and then reality seemed to hit her. Nothing was ever going to happen, no matter what Sheik thought, she knew. She suddenly felt depressed.

Sheik was smiling at her, she suddenly realised.

"You look like you're miles away," he commented.

She apologized, and smiled back at him. "Did I ever thank you properly for saving my life?" She asked.

"Anyone would have done the same in my situation."  
"Not everyone."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter."

She was about to reply, when a sudden snap of a twig breaking sounded near-by. Sheik launched forward, pushing Malon flat to the ground on her back and shielding her with his body and looking around the area frantically.

Leaves rustled, and Malon and Sheik both looked to their right to see a rabbit hopping away quickly.

Sheik exhaled, looking down at Malon sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I thought we were about to be attacked."

Malon laughed. "Yeah, me too." _His body is lying on top of mine. He's so close..._

She looked up into his red eye, and suddenly his lips looked so desirable and inviting. She liked him too, she realized. Not in the way she liked Link, which was more of an all-consuming feeling, but she was still greatly attracted to Sheik.

Maybe it was because she had been talking about Link and fantasizing about kissing him, but all of a sudden she felt the need to kiss Sheik. Of course she _couldn't, _but she still desired to.

Sheik was still on top of her, and, maybe because he noticed the weird look in her eyes, he was remaining still, looking at her questionably.

She could feel the warmth of his body, pressing down on hers.

She liked Link, but she knew that he was unavailable to her. And Sheik was here, so close to her, so why shouldn't she just quickly kiss him? She would probably never see him again after he dropped her off at Castle Town, anyway.

His body tensed, and she realized he was preparing to get up. Quickly, so she couldn't talk herself out of it, she pulled his head down towards hers with her hands, sought his lips, and pressed her mouth against his.

She felt his body freeze, but knew that there was no going back now. His lips remained firmly closed and unmoving, however, and she felt a moment of panic.

_Of course he won't want to kiss me._

Then she felt him react to her kiss, and his lips opened slightly. Feeling a thrill, she kissed him more deeply, and felt his tongue briefly envelop hers.

And then, it was over. Sheik pulled away, looking embarrassed, and smiled apologetically at her.

"Malon...I like you too, but we can't." He said.

She felt awkward, and stupid. "Of course. I...I can't blame you..."

"No, it has _nothing _to do with you. I just can't get involved with anyone right now, believe me. Because of my job, because you don't know who I really am. I'm sorry." He told her, and his eyes looked sincere.

She nodded, but still felt awkward. "Okay...um, I'm going to go to sleep now, okay? It's too awkward, otherwise."

"Yeah, I'll do the same. I hope this hasn't hurt you in any way." Sheik said, and those were the last words exchanged between the two that night.

Lying on her side facing away from Sheik, Malon cursed her stupidity. Why had she done that? She realized that she had been thinking of Link just before kissing Sheik-she had wanted to kiss Link. So she had kissed someone else instead. Someone she hardly knew. What was wrong with her?

Her mind was filled with everything that had happened to her, and suddenly she just wanted to crawl into some deep hole somewhere and hide herself from the world.

Another horrible thought hit her: what if Link was dead? What if her father was now dead? And she had only been thinking about herself and relationships...

She curled up her body, shaking.

_I'm sorry, dad. Sorry, Link. I don't deserve wonderful people like you around me. Link...hang in there. I'm coming for you, and maybe we can both sort this whole mess out. I want to help you. _

_That's all I know._

* * *

**Phew! This was actually the longest chapter so far. Which is strange, because not much happened in it! I apologize for the lack of action, but I wanted to focus more on the characters, specifically of Sheik and Malon, before I shifted the story back to Link.**

**I had to chuckle a bit, writing this chapter. Poor Ingo! He had his dream, and now it's literally gone up in flames! Haha.  
I really liked how Sheik and Malon bonded in this chapter. Sheik is relatively new in disguising herself, remember, so I wanted to have Malon partly see through it. And why was Sheik so interested in talking to Malon about her love life (apart from the fact that it was Link, of course!)? Because she's female, and probably wanted to behave like a normal girl, fora change. Even though she's dressed up as a boy. Heh.**

**I really, really hope that Malon didn't come off as an unfaithful, two-timing person to you guys. Her kissing Sheik was an idea I had a while ago, because for one I didn't want this to _just _be a story about how Malon falls for Link, and I thought it might be interesting developing a love-triangle of sorts. Malon likes Link, and Sheik, even though she's not aware that he's a she, while Sheik, we have to assume, must have some feelings for Link as well.  
So I tried to justify _why _Malon would kiss Sheik-mainly because she doesn't expect to be with Link. That, and she's confused, so I think her behaviour can be excused, right?  
Also note how Sheik kisses Malon back. This isn't because Zelda suddenly has feelings for Malon, or because she's gay. She did it because she didn't want to make Malon feel horrible by rejecting her so strongly. All cleared up? Good. :p **

**I actually got 10 reviews for chapter 7! 10! That, to me, is just amazing. I couldn't reply in person to all of you, because I've been busy, so I would just like to say a huge thank-you to everyone who left a review! I am very lucky, I think, to have such great reviewers who ask questions and leave such wonderful comments. You'll have to bear with me while I answer a few questions here: **

EndlessStrife: I'm kind of glad you were expecting Link to show up at any moment, because that's what you would think would happen, right? Link saves Malon again, Malon goes "I love you more, Link" or whatever. :p So I decided that it would be a good time for Sheik to come into the story, and am pleased with the results.

Lt. Doom: New reviewer! Action/adventure, some gore, and good old romance is what this story is about. Thanks for the review.

Syphora: I think it's safe to assume that Ganondorf began his evil plans in the castle, like in the game. Since the next chapters will be set in Castle Town, I will be able to reveal more details.

Robbo: I burned the farm down, and I can burn it down again! (Wait...that's not right...)

Halomasterchief: Yay. I'm glad you mentioned how it's fitting that Sheik would be slowly fighting Ganondorf's men, as I wanted a good reason for Sheik to show up at the farm. Yes, Sheik would have only been under Impa's training for maybe two years or something, so he/she's really only starting out, andis still developing.

DragonEyes: Nice name. Thanks for the review, I've been updating on a weekly basis so far.

Lao Who Mai: I quite like Ingo, as a character. You love to hate him. Thanks for commenting how it should be equal part Malon/Link. I agree. In fact, if I had not written these last four chapterson Malon, I wouldn't care for her as much as a character. Dark Link? Hmm. Seeing as he only popped up in the game as a boss, he isn't much of a character. Still, he would probably fit into the story nicely in some form, so we'll see.

Rynada and BabyGurl, I replied to your questions already, but I'd like to thank you both for all your reviews (Yes, I'm a suck-up :p).

Argh! Next time, I think I'll just reply to the reviews, because that took up so much space. So sorry.

I was thinking of creating an "interview" of sorts, with Malon. I was going to tell you guys to put down a question you would like to ask Malon, the character, in your review of this chapter, and then I would be able to make her answer, which I thought would be interesting to read. However, in the rules, I believe, you are not allowed to do this in your story (it's not a proper chapter, and all that). But then I thought I could still do it, but I would just put the interview up on my Profile, so you could all read it.  
**And then I thought "Wait...is putting it up on my Profile still against the rules?"And now I'm confused. :p If anyone can clear this matter up, by either messaging me or commenting in your review, I would be thankful. If you're _sure _that it's not against the rules, leave the question, and I'll do it. Becuase it would be interesting seeing what Malon thinks of Sheik, in her own words, what she wants to do next, blah blah...who's the better kisser, Sheik or Link? **

Okay, that's it. Yeah, I know, I write too much. Next chapter, Link will be back. Looking forward to that...and I might take a longer break in putting up the next chapter, unless I get swamped with reviews begging me to update sooner. :p I normally update after a week, so I might wait two weeks this time. Got to make sure I know where the story will go.  
Review! Thanks for reading!

**  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**Phew! After a two week break, the ninth chapter is here. Be advised that there is some death in this chapter, and one naughty word. Don't worry though, the word won't send you running, crying for your mummies. :p**

* * *

Hyrule Castle Town was dying, or so it seemed to the young soldier. 

It was as if the town itself was fading away to nothing-where once there stood a lively, bustling market-place, there was now a desolate, barren wasteland standing in its place.  
How had this happened? He thought foggily to himself. He could still picture things how they once were; the castle, so lovely and proud, standing above the town…children playing in the streets. The people who had lived in the town weren't overly-rich, but they were _happy._

And then Ganondorf came, and with him he brought an invisible poison that decayed at the town and the people, and now, finally, _this _had happened.

The young soldier ducked, his mind springing back to the present. He thrust his sword forward, straight into an eye socket of the Redead that was reaching for his neck.

The creature snarled and fell backwards, wrenching the sword from his hands.

Now unarmed, the soldier hastily looked around at the battle that was raging.

Redead were _everywhere, _swarming all over the courtyard of the town, and even more of the creatures were starting to appear out of alleyways, from behind buildings, and even from some of the soft parts of the earth itself.

Around him, what remained of the rag-tag group of fighters-mostly villagers, really-fought on bravely, but they were quickly becoming surrounded by the undead, and they numbered only around ten men now.

The soldier cursed, as more Redead shuffled forward towards him quickly, cutting him off from his dropped weapon. He tried to back away, but even more of the creatures were behind him, hungrily reaching towards him with their rotten hands.

_So this is it, _he thought. _This is how I die._

He looked up, glancing at the castle that stood framed against the night sky for one last time, and he cursed Ganondorf's name. His only wish was to somehow be able to see the day when Ganondorf's rule would finally be brought to an end.

It had been foolish to rally what small force he could find, and lead an assault against the Redead, he knew. He was a soldier, and therefore could afford to retreat to the castle and remain safe, while the villagers-those who remained-were slaughtered.

But he hadn't been able to do it, of course, and had come to the conclusion that he would not allow himself to serve under Ganondorf's name.

One of the creatures grabbed his arm, its nails cutting into his skin painfully. The Redead leaned forward, opening its mouth wide, emitting a foul stench that turned the soldier's stomach.

_I die with a clear conscience. _He thought, as the Redead's head lowered on his neck.

There was a flash, and suddenly the creature stumbled away from him, and the soldier saw that there was a dagger protruding from its forehead.

He felt a hand-a human hand-grab his arm and pull him back away from the rest of the creatures, into the centre of the courtyard where the survivor's-just eight now-still fought.

He looked into the grinning face of Rupert, a fellow soldier who had (much to his surprise) agreed to help him fight off the Redead. The two hadn't been friends or anything, so his loyalty had surprised the young soldier.

"Are ye _that _keen to die, Scray?" Rupert joked, his face grim. "Stick around for a few more minutes-you'll still get your chance to die, don't ye worry!"

Scray nodded, feeling weak, and Rupert pushed a short sword into his hands.

"Here-I always carry a spare." Rupert said.

Rupert lifted his own sword and took a swipe at a near-by Redead that was advancing upon him, cutting its head clean off. The body kept coming though, and Rupert cursed and kicked it away from him.

Scray joined in the fighting once more, and it began to rain, softly at first, and then with increased vigor.

"Perfect!" He heard Rupert shout over the rain. "What next?"

Another man fell, the Redead overcoming him, and Scray and the rest of the men bunched together, forming a circle that faced out onto the oncoming hordes. They were out-numbered perhaps three-to-one, now.

Scray found himself next to Rupert once more. The two soldiers looked at one another-Rupert was the older, with a thick, scraggly beard, and dark, twisting hair. The look that they gave each other confirmed that they both knew they were about to die.

"'Tis been a pleasure." Rupert mumbled.

"See you in the after-life, Rupe." Scray responded, blinking rain water out of his eyes. His heart was pounding wildly. He hoped that the Redead would finish him off swiftly.

There came a sound to the men then, a clattering noise of a horse's hooves pounding against cobblestones.

"Someone comes!" One of the villagers shouted over the rain, a faint shred of hope in his voice.

Scray didn't even allow himself to hope, but still the noise grew louder.

The Redead had all paused, and were looking around stupidly, distracted by the unknown noise.

"Over there!" Someone yelled, and Scray looked towards the entrance to the courtyard, where two horses burst from around some buildings and into the open.

Scray's jaw dropped, as his eyes were drawn to the lead horse, or more specifically, to its rider. He could see that it was a man-a youth- but, peculiarly, he seemed to be clad all in a fiery red; a long bow was in his hands and had already been fitted with an arrow.

The rider moved through the sheets of rain like a fireball, circling the mass of Redead and soldiers. Scray kept waiting for him to loose the arrow, but for some reason he didn't.

_What is he doing? Why not attack? _He thought, confused. Still, he figured that even when he _did _attack, it would do no good. They needed another twenty men to have a hope of survival against the Redead.

To his surprise, as the youth passed by a lit torch that was hanging next to a door, protected from the rain by an over-hanging roof, he pointed the tip of the arrow at the flame, and the arrow was engulfed by fire.

The youth then stopped his horse some distance away from the Redead, and called out in a voice that they could all hear, "_This _is how you stop Redead!"

And he loosed the arrow.

The arrow thudded into one of the Redead, and immediately, _impossibly, _the creature went up in flames, growling in pain. The fire leapt to any Redead that was standing near-by, and after a few seconds half of the creatures were alight, staggering around in agony, and bumping into other creatures, who in turn caught alight.

Scray could not believe what he was seeing. Above all, he could not make himself believe that he might somehow _survive _the night.

Rupert, thankfully, was not so unsure.  
"Aha!" He laughed in triumph, lifting his sword into the air. "Come on, drive the bastards back!"

With a roar, the remaining men rushed at the Redead, cutting them apart and forcing them to retreat. Scray dodged a flaming creature and swung his sword, and his eyes went to the figure on the horse, who now appeared to be doing something else.

He watched as the youth quickly took out a bottle of green liquid from a bag and sloshed some of the stuff onto the tip of an arrow. He then held the arrow out to another torch, and the flame leapt up once more. He sighted the arrow, closing one eye, and let it fly, straight into another group of Redead, who were quickly engulfed in flames.

Scray's attention was forced back on the battle, as the remaining Redead, angered by the fire, set themselves upon the survivors with renewed aggression.

He had no more time for thoughts, and could only concentrate on defending himself. Minutes passed, and suddenly Scray realized with a shock that all the Redead were either retreating, or were burning on the ground, incapacitated.

He blinked, looking around at the men who were still standing. At first he thought that seven men were left, but realized that one of the people standing in the courtyard was the red youth, panting heavily and holding a sword in his hand that Scray recognized as belonging to one of the slain. He obviously must have joined the battle on foot, but Scray had been too occupied to notice.

So, six of them had survived, including Rupert, he realized. To him, that seemed impossible. They should all be dead.

Suddenly feeling dizzy and sick, he fell to his knees, his vision blackening out. The last thing he remembered seeing as he slipped sideways to the ground was the outline of the fiery youth, standing firm against the down-pouring rain like a candle in the wind.

* * *

Link allowed himself to slump against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the ground, his body still dripping wet from the rain. 

He was inside one of the houses of Hyrule Castle Town. Apparently the rebellion factions of the town were using the house as a base of operations, but he was almost too exhausted to care.

He tried to remember when he last had a proper sleep, or a proper meal for that matter, but couldn't.

Voices, some raised-angry, crying; others soft and relieved, flooded in from the next room over, as the survivors who had fought against the Redead were reunited with their loved ones…and as the loved ones of the slain sobbed and mourned.

Link closed his eyes, feeling a pang of anger and guilt. He had arrived too late, he knew. Too many had died. Before the boy, Zane, had led him to this house, he had learned from one of the fighters that they had started out with fifteen men. So, nine had died before he could get there in time. More than half.

A noise made him open his eyes, and he saw Zane enter the room with a plump woman, who was wiping at her tear-stained eyes with a hanky. Upon seeing him, the woman smiled kindly.

"You must be the one…who saved my husband. I don't know how to thank you. It was awful what happened out there tonight. So many…dead. But if you hadn't shown up when you did, there would be no survivors at all." She said, choking back more tears.

Link bowed his head, more from sadness than out of etiquette.

"I did what I could," was all he could find to say.

More people entered the room-a middle-aged soldier, and another villager, carrying the body of another soldier between them.

Link managed to stand up, and he glanced at the unconscious soldier's face. He was clean-shaven and looked to be pretty young for a soldier, and had his eyes closed.

"Is he…" He began, as the bearded man and the villager laid the soldier on a bed.

"Dead? Nah, he just passed out. Can't really blame him…I wouldn't mind doing the same, right now." The soldier joked, grinning.

Link couldn't help noticing how pained his face looked, despite his efforts to conceal it.

"Ah…I think we need to have a quick word, before I tend to the fallen." The soldier said to him, beckoning with one hand.

Link nodded and followed the man into another room, which was so small that the soldier and he took up all the space.

The soldier shut the door behind them.

"This'll give us enough privacy, I suppose." The soldier mused.

"Um…it's a closet." Link pointed out dryly.

"It'll do." He repeated.

The soldier sat on a dusty box, and Link sat opposite him.

"Well, I should introduce myself. I'm Rupert, ex-soldier of the King of Hyrule. That all changed when Ganondorf took over, of course. And you would be Link." The solider said.

Link blinked. He really needed to get used to being so well-known, he figured.

Rupert went on talking. "Link, what you witnessed tonight was the last desperate struggle of the town people to defend their homes. Obviously, we failed. It is clear to me now that we cannot stay here any longer. Nor should we. It is a foolish thing to try to live right under Ganondorf's shadow."

Link nodded. "So, does that mean you will all evacuate now?"

"I wish it was as easy as that. You see, even with everything that has happened, half of the people left here will still refuse to leave the town." The soldier said with a sigh.

"What? That's insane! What reason do they have to stay?" Link cried.

"Before the Redead appeared, Ganondorf's soldiers-traitors, the lot of them-controlled the town. Laws were strict. Anyone who so much as sneered at Ganondorf's name was arrested. So, at the moment, the prisons of the Castle are filled with innocent men and women, who did nothing but question the new 'king's' rule. Those who are still staying in the town mostly have loved ones in the prison, and they are doing their best to free them." Rupert said, sighing.

"Can't they see that they cannot be freed? You'd need an army, virtually. Why not convince them to move on and gather more forces? They'd have a better shot that way." Link pointed out.

"No-one here would listen to any reason. They don't see the point of moving to another town, and don't even want to try to get on with their lives. Not without those who are most important to them." Rupert explained.

"So why are you telling me all this? On one hand you're saying that you need to get the people out of here, or else they'll die. But on the other hand you're saying that they refuse to go. I can't really see what we can do about that." Link muttered, brushing his wet hair away from his face.

"No, there's nothing that can be done about it. Apart from freeing the prisoners from the castle, which is an impossible task. I just thought you should know the situation we're facing here. We all appreciate your help tonight, of course-I owe you my life. But my advice to you now is to leave this place as soon as you are able. We cannot afford to lose you to the Redead-Hyrule needs you." The soldier said grimly.

Link thought for a moment, letting his words sink in.

"I think I am needed here. I wouldn't be able to ride away from this place with a clear conscience, so I think I'll stick around for a bit, and see if there's anything more I can do to help." He said.

The soldier shrugged, standing up. "If that's your wish. Now, if you'll excuse me, I go to bury the dead."

Rupert opened the door to the closet and walked away, and Link, feeling hopeless, put his head in his hands. He had had no idea that Hyrule Castle Town was in such a bad shape. It would be so much easier, he thought, if the people just left for Kakariko Village or some such place, but he supposed that that would mean leaving behind their families to rot.

He looked up when a shadow fell across him, to see the boy Zane standing there, hesitating.

"What is it, Zane?" He asked.

"People are saying that…that you're going to help us rescue our families. Is this true?" The boy asked hopefully.

Link frowned. "Who's been saying that?"

"Just…people."

He sighed. "Zane…I'd love to be able to rescue everyone from the prisons, but I don't think it can be done right now. I'm sorry."

The boy, who Link had learned was just eleven years old, bowed his head, the hope dying from his eyes. "Oh…" he muttered. "I just thought that, if anyone would be able to do it, it would be you. My parents were captured a while back, so I'm alone now."

"Just try to hold yourself together, okay? One day your parents will be freed, you'll see." Link said, feeling like he was letting the boy down.

The boy gave him one last look and scampered off, and Link sighed.

What was he supposed to do? March into the Castle -weaponless-and simply free all the prisoners?

The thought reminded him that he still had to get his hands on a sword somehow. He had discarded the sword he had used against the Redead, as he had barely been able to use it properly, since the weapon was too long and heavy for him to wield.

Where would he be able to get a good sword in the crumbling town? Surely not in any of the shops or anything. His mind went to the Temple, which stood on the outskirts of town. There was a sword in _there_, he knew-The Master Sword. For some reason he had never picked it up, even though he had collected all three of the items needed to unlock the door that guarded the sword.

So what was stopping him from going there right now and retrieving the sword? He thought.  
Then he realized something: he didn't actually have the three jewels he needed to unlock the sword. He had left them in his old home, the Kokiri Forest, for safe keeping.

There goes _that _plan, then, he thought miserably.

He stood up and left the closet, figuring that he might as well go and check out the Temple anyway. Not that he expected to find anything, but the walk might do him good.

When he walked back into the main room of the house, he found it deserted, apart from the soldier who had previously been unconscious, and who was now groaning to himself on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" Link asked him.

The young soldier blinked his blue eyes at him. "Like crap. But that's good, I suppose: let's me know I'm still alive. You're the guy who saved us." He said, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, I guess I am." Link said, not really used to being complimented so much.

"We owe you so much for that. I mean, I was ready to die. Oh, I'm Scray, by the way. Just a lowly soldier, and the idiot who convinced everyone that we had to fight the Redead." He said, shaking his head sorrowfully.

Outside, lightning crackled near-by. Link had just about had enough of rain.

"I can't blame you- I would have done the same thing. You just didn't know that you need fire to properly finish off Redead, or they'll just keep coming back." He told Scray.

The soldier nodded, but he still looked like he blamed himself.

"Anyway, since no-one else seems to be around, I need to ask you something." Link said. "How safe would I be if I quickly went to the Temple right now?"

The soldier frowned. "What do you want to do that for? Never mind. If you must, I see no real danger in doing that. The Redead usually attack us only once per night, for some reason. You might run into a couple of them, but I suppose you could out-run them easily enough."

Link nodded. "All right, I'll do that then."  
He walked over to the door and pulled it open, where a blast of cold air and rain blew in.

"Wait! Before you go, what's your name?" Scray called.

Link smiled to himself. At least not everyone knew his name yet.  
"It's Link." He said, without turning around.

"_The _Link?" Scray exclaimed. "I thought he- er, _you, _wore green?"

"Usually. I thought I needed a change," he replied, and stepped out into the rain.

* * *

He ran through the town, and everywhere he looked he saw destruction. The buildings were all crumbling; the streets were littered with rubbish and in a state of neglect. Here and there he saw shadows of Redead shuffling between buildings, or feeding on something on the ground which he didn't want to get a good look at. 

As he ran past yet another building, he heard a sudden shout, so he stopped running and looked around for the location of the noise. Soon enough, he spotted a figure waving him over from an alleyway.

Link jogged over to the alleyway, where he saw that the figure was a middle-aged man, who looked frightened and skittish. With him stood a younger woman, her eyes wide and alert.

"Thank the sages! We haven't seen another living soul around all day!" The man whispered.

"What are you doing here?" Link asked him.

"We've been holed up inside our house for days, too afraid to go outside for fear of being attacked by one of those…_things._ But now we're out of supplies, and Redead started to break in through the windows! We have to get out of here…we don't want to leave the city just yet, but we need to find somewhere safer." The man explained rapidly, his eyes searching for danger.

"There's a small rebellion group that has set themselves up near the entrance to the town," Link told the man. "That's about the only safe place that I know of."

But the man's expression grew hopeful. "Near the town's entrance, you say? That would be perfect. Come on, Sharla, we need to leave at once."  
"Will you be okay to get there?" Link asked, before the two of them could move off.

"I have a sword with me- don't worry, nothing's going to get past me to harm my daughter." The man said, a glint in his eye. He nodded his thanks to Link and the two of them quickly moved away.

Link, shuddering slightly from the rain, took one last look at the retreating pair and then moved on towards the Temple of Time.

* * *

He could see the Temple of Time clearly now, standing tall against the town's backdrop. The buildings of the town disappeared as he rounded a corner, and he felt eager to finally be almost there. 

Abruptly however, he skidded to a halt, as he found himself standing in the town's Cemetery. He gazed around, panting, the rain thudding down on him, and his heart fell.

How had he forgotten that the graveyard was situated just before the Temple? This was not good. Redead were always attracted to cemeteries, and in fact usually came from cemeteries in the first place.  
And he was weaponless.

_I'll just run through quickly, _he decided. He didn't want to have to go all the way back to the town's entrance, after he had come so far.

With a burst of speed he ran past the headstones and mausoleums, the hair on the back of his neck standing up. The rain made his progress treacherous, and he chose his footing carefully, not wanting to trip and fall down in the dangerous place.

He turned his head as he went past one of the mausoleums, gazing into the dark opening of the structure, out of morbid curiosity.

He slowed, and then stopped completely. He stared into the opening, transfixed. A dark breeze seemed to waft out from the mausoleum…it smelled dank, fresh, but not putrid or rotten, like he would have expected.

Feeling an unexpected and over-whelming desire to look inside suddenly, he stepped closer to the entrance. The dark place seemed to be singing to him, luring him in. It was promising him delicious secrets, a different world of earthy delights.

Link knew he should turn away and continue on to the Temple, but he could not seem to help himself: he needed to look into the mausoleum. He reached the entrance, his hand resting on the side of the open doorway.

_Turn away, now!_ He told himself. But instead he walked through the doorway, into the dark, small room of the mausoleum.

The place seemed empty, the stone walls cold and dark. In one corner, up on a ledge set in the wall, a coffin lay, thankfully unopened.

Link shuddered. What had convinced him to enter this horrible place? He thought. He should be on his way to the temple!

He turned back towards the entrance of the mausoleum, and came face to face with a red-eyed specter, its eyes a dark red, its mouth opened wide, revealing long, pointed teeth.

Link screamed, backing away from the ghost, his heart hammering in his chest. The thing was blocking the exit! He was trapped!

The ghost advanced on him, floating eerily across the ground. It was a girl, he saw, maybe his age. She stretched a transparent arm out for him, towards his neck.

Suddenly, he felt something grab his arm from behind. He jumped, and spun around to look right in the face of a Redead, its disgusting mouth opened wide, ready to bite down on his flesh.

Link shoved the vile thing away, wondering to himself how things could possibly get any worse. He noticed that the coffin's lid was ajar-the creature must have come from the coffin!

The Redead snarled and sprang forward once more, and Link was helpless to stop it.

"Sssstop! He's mine!" The apparition hissed, gliding in front of Link. "My meat! My soul! Be gone!"

The Redead growled angrily, but to Link's surprise it stalked away slowly, walking out of the mausoleum and into the rain.

The spirit spun around to face Link, grinning nastily.

It reached out a hand and stroked the side of his cheek with it-Link felt an odd sensation; he could feel her hand, but at the same time it was almost like a gentle breeze was against his face.

"P-please," Link managed to say. "Let me go. I'm needed elsewhere."

The ghost laughed, her red eyes flashing mischievously.

"You really think I'm going to harm you? Good! The only other person I've tried to scare ran off before I could ask him what he thought of me." The ghost said, grinning.

Link felt confused. "What are you talking about? And are you going to…you know, take my soul, or not?"

The ghost giggled once more, looking pleased with herself. "Oh no, I don't want to hurt you. I only said that to get that nasty Redead away from us. I just lured you in here so that I could try and scare you."

"So that's why I was drawn in here? What's the point of scaring me, anyway?" Link asked, feeling himself calm down slightly.

"I'm a ghost!" The girl said. "That's what ghosts do, right? Scare people. I just…haven't been one for long, so I'm not really good at it."

"Well, you're…you're very scary." Link said. "I'm sorry, but I really need to be going. I'm kind of in the middle of something."

The specter slumped her shoulders, her blonde hair falling in front of her face. "No, don't go!" She begged. "I think…I need help. Only a few people can see me, you know. Mostly young people-those who still have their innocence."

Link frowned, feeling uneasy. "I'm young, but…I've killed, you know. I shouldn't have any innocence left."

"You must have killed in the name of good, then. You still believe in yourself." She responded.

He shrugged. _Maybe barely, _he thought.

"What do you want, then?" He asked.

The girl looked pained. "People become ghosts when they have unfinished business left in this world. I was killed recently…I don't want to say how. I need to tell someone something, but he can't see me. But, maybe you can tell him for me. And I want to see him, too."

Link bit his lip. "All that? I really don't have time right now. But I'll do it," he added quickly as the girl's face fell, "right after I check the temple for something."

The ghost grinned. "Thank you! I'm Renna. Before you tell me, I don't want to know your name. I shouldn't become attached to anything living; it will just make my passing on to the next world more difficult."

Link nodded, but he still felt slightly uneasy, helping a ghost. She seemed to be harmless enough, but he kept his guard up regardless.

"Well, okay Renna. You wait here, and I'll be back after I visit the temple." He told her, and exited the mausoleum quickly.  
He had only gone a few steps, his boots squelching in the mud, when he felt a presence, so he turned around to find Renna floating there. He jumped.

"What are you doing?" He asked, somewhat brusquely.

"Following you. I don't have to stay in the graveyard, you know. I was only hanging around there because it seemed fitting, what with me being dead. You don't mind if I tag along, right? That way I can be sure that you'll keep your promise." She added, meaningfully.

Link sighed. "Sure, why not?"

They walked the remainder of the Cemetery, Link sighing inwardly. He had a _ghost _following him now-nothing in his life could ever be _simple, _could it?

They reached the entrance to the temple, and he pushed the massive doors open with a heave.

* * *

Inside, all the candles had been lit, but there wasn't a soul in sight. Link walked down the aisle until he reached the podium, where there lay three indentations for the Spiritual Stones to be set. Link gazed up at the wall where he was pretty sure that beyond it, the Master Sword stood, and sighed. 

For some reason he had hoped that the wall would somehow already be open, and that he would just be able to grab the sword and leave. Of course, that wasn't the case. He could see no other way that he could get to the sword without the stones, either.

Renna floated around him, looking bored. "So, why are you here? You religious?" She asked.

"No…I was hoping to get beyond that wall there to this sword, but now I can see that I won't be able to." He sighed.

Renna looked up. "Beyond that wall? Do you think there's a room past it? I had to come to this temple every week when I was living, and I never saw the wall open or anything."

"Normally, you need these three stones." Link muttered. "If you don't believe me that it's over there, just…glide through the wall, or whatever. Ghosts can do that, right?"

Renna grinned. "Yeah, that's just about the only good thing about being a ghost. Fine, I'll go check. And if there's a sword there, I'll bring it back with me."

Link snorted. "Right. Too bad you can't really interact with things, and even if you could, the sword wouldn't be able to pass through the wall."

"I _can _interact with things! And, if I'm holding something, it can travel through objects with me." Renna told him, looking smug. "Wait here and you'll see!"

With that, she flew into the wall, passing right through it.

Link waited, feeling doubtful that what Renna planned would work. Sure enough, there came the sound of Renna cursing from the other side of the wall. Link smiled to himself.

The ghost reappeared into the room, frowning.  
"See?" Link said. "Nice trick with the wall, though."

Renna glared at him. "Okay, so there _was _a sword back there. I can touch it, but for some reason I can't lift it out!"

Link shook his head, feeling stupid. "Sorry, I forgot that only the Hero of Time can take out that sword."

"So how were _you _going to take the sword out, smart-guy?" Renna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was just going to lift it out."  
"But you just said that only the Hero of Time could lift it out!" Renna cried, exasperated.

"Exactly."

"Exactly? What's that meant to mean?" The ghost snarled, and then her expression went blank. "_Oh. _So you're saying _you're _the Hero of Time…that you're Link. Argh, now I know your name! I should have guessed though, but normally you're wearing-"

"Green. Yeah, I know. Come on, let's get out of here." Link said.

"Hold on," Renna said. "Come over here for a second."  
"Why?"  
"Just do it!" She snapped.

_I see you don't get any more _relaxed _after you become a ghost, _he thought sarcastically, but he walked up to Renna anyway, who was standing next to the wall.

"Okay, what do you want?" He asked.

"I've figured out a way to get the sword. You and I are about to become really close, Link…" She said, winking.  
"What's that supposed to-" He started, but stopped as Renna suddenly flew at him, passing right through him and then hovering at exactly the same space that his body occupied. It was like being covered by a cold, invisible sheet. He shivered.

"Okay, now move into the wall." He heard Renna's voice say, from somewhere inside his head. Or was she _on_ his head? He was too confused to tell.

Link did as he was told without questioning her-anything to get rid of this melding of bodies that Renna had set up. It made him uncomfortable.

He reached the wall, and continued into it. To his shock, his body seemed to slip straight through the wall, and soon he was seeing the wall from the inside. He passed through quickly, and popped out the other side, into a room.

He shivered violently. It had felt so _wrong_! Like, his body kept telling him that it couldn't be doing what it was doing, and it had even hurt him a bit.

"Okay, get out!" He cried, and to his relief Renna unfolded her spirit body from his.

"Now wasn't that easy?" She beamed at him.  
"No, actually! Ugh, and I'm going to have to do that again to get out of here." He moaned, but then the Master Sword caught his eye.

It was standing in the middle of the room, and a blade of moonlight coming down from a window illuminated it. Link walked over to the sword, his palms sweaty.

"Take it!" Renna cried, when he hesitated.

He nodded slightly, and reached out a hand, settling it on the hilt of the blade. The tip of the sword seemed to be embedded in a strange pedestal.

With a heave, he pulled with all his might, and straight away the sword slid out, the sound of metal against stone echoing in the room.

Link suddenly felt a strange sensation, and his eyes fluttered as a white light overcame him.

He glimpsed a figure in front of him for a second, and had the sensation that he was somehow in a different place now. Then he heard a voice calling his name urgently, felt something on his arm, and before he registered what was happening he was falling backwards. He hit the ground and his vision cleared-he was back in the empty room of the temple.

He looked up at Renna, who had pulled him back.  
"Thanks," he muttered. "What just happened though?"

"I felt some sort of energy pulling you away from this world! I thought you were somehow dying, so I just panicked and pulled you away," Renna explained, her red eyes wide.

Link struggled to his feet, and realized that he was still holding the Master Sword. He looked down at it, and gave it some experimental slashes through the air.

He grinned. When he wielded the sword, it seemed to him that nothing had ever felt so _right _in his life.

* * *

**I know this chapter ends sort of weirdly (though I do like the last sentence), but I just didn't want to write any more of this chapter, or else it would contain too much.  
Since the Ocarina of Time actually doesn't have many characters I can use, I ended up creating a lot of originals: Scray, Rupert, Renna, Zane...so yeah, not my fault. :p  
Also...(and I shouldn't be saying this, really), there is one thing in this chapter that seems to be a mistake, but is actually a clue of something that will happen. I didn't want to say it, because I didn't want people to try and find it, thus pointing out _all _the unintentional mistakes in this, but I couldn't help myself. Just...just be gentle. :p  
After I wrote the part about Renna, the ghost, I realized that it reminded me a lot of this game I played for the DS, called "Another Code", or something else in America. You know the one with the girl, and she meets that ghost, and then they both solve puzzles? I might have accidentally borrowed some ideas from it (though I don't think I did...). Anyway, just wanted to throw that in there. **

The green liquid that Link used on the arrow was of course, magic potion. I wanted him to have fire arrows, but in the storyline he hasn't recieved the fire arrows yet, so I worked my way around the problem. Besides, since its magic potion, it explains how the flame can survive the rain and stuff.  
I also used Renna as a way for Link to get the Master Sword without using the Spiritual Stones (sneaky...), and I also wanted to deal with the fact that, once Link tried to get the sword, the Sages would try to grab him and hold him for, what, seven, five years? Something like that. I didn't want that to happen, so I had Renna use her...erm, ghostly powers (haha) to brush off the Sages. Take that, sages!

Oh, and yes, this chapter is sort of like a zombie movie. But I had Redead in it, which are-let's face it-basically zombies, so I couldn't really avoid that. You also get a ghost, huh? So it's a bit like a Halloween special chapter, hehe. All I needed was a mummy and a warewolf. :p  
For those who may not know, a mausoleum is a small crypt, or burial chamber. They're often just built on their own, and are fairly small. Yes, most people would probably already know this, but meh.

**I won't lie to you-this chapter was hard to write. So I hope you guys like it. Chapter 7 recieved ten reviews, and chapter 8 got nine, and I would just like to say thank you very much for that! Well, please leave reviews for this chapter-I want to know what you guys think. The story will hopefully start to get pretty interesting (not that I'm bored with it right now), with a few twists and turns. So stay tuned! **


	10. Chapter 10

**Phew...I'm back! I know it's been ages, but I sort of needed a break from writing. But finally, chapter 10 is here, a very special chapter. Why is it special? Um...because it's chapter 10. That's basically it. :p  
There's some violence in this, but that's why it's got an M rating. Hope you enjoy, see you after the chapter! **

* * *

Link stepped once again out into the rainy night, still holding the Master Sword tight in his right hand. The doors leading into the Temple of Time closed shut behind him, passing right through the ghost Renna, who was following closely. 

"Hey! Just because I'm dead it doesn't mean you can slam doors in my face whenever you feel like it." Renna muttered.

"Sorry…" Link mumbled, casting his gaze around the graveyard to make sure there were no Redead in the area.

"Are you going back to the survivors now?" Renna asked him quietly, her strange voice hollow, as if she were speaking down a long tunnel.

"Yes. I don't know if you've seen it yet, but they've set up a safe house just near the entrance to the town." He answered.

"Okay, let's head there then." Renna said decisively, her red eyes eager.

Link started walking down the length of the graveyard, the ground now muddier then ever and splashing up on his ankles, mixing with the rain.

A guttural, high-pitched scream suddenly sounded behind him, making his body jolt in fear, and he spun around quickly, preparing to defend himself from a Redead.

What he saw instead was perhaps a little more horrifying to him: Renna was on her knees in the mud, both her hands clutching the top of her skull fiercely, as if she was trying to prevent something from bursting out of her head. The girl's mouth was wide open, a wail of pain issuing from therein, and her red eyes were wide with fear and pain.

"Stop!" She screamed at him, and he paused in the act of holding out a hand to her.

"What is it? What's happening?" Link cried, the fear showing in his voice.

Renna's eyes rolled up into the back of her head, and she groaned in pain.

"Why me? Can't you let me die? I don't have anything more to tell you! Oh, Link! Help me!" She screamed, and to Link's increasing horror he saw that the ghost's body was becoming even more transparent by the second. Renna was fading out of existence.

"Come back!" He shouted, and grabbed at her shoulder with a hand.

Instead of touching anything solid, his hand merely sunk through her shoulder, but it seemed that the indirect touch did something, for her body suddenly shone more brightly, became more solid.

Renna fell sobbing to her side in the mud, her body shaking slightly.

Still confused at what was happening, Link could only kneel in the mud beside the ghost in the rain, and pat her head as well as he could with his hand, feeling the slightest physical sensation as he did so.

Gradually her sobbing subsided, to be replaced with weak chuckles, which in turn turned into full-blown laughter.

Link blinked. "What are you-are you _laughing _now? What's going on?"

Renna looked up at him and grinned bravely, though her cheeks were tear-stained.

"I'm really sorry about that…I guess that was quite a show, huh?" She muttered, still smiling sadly. "I was experiencing a…a flashback of my death. It happens sometimes."

Link's heart ached for the girl. "But why was your body disappearing?" He asked.

Renna bowed her head, and was silent for some seconds.

"The afterlife was calling to me," she said finally. "I was about to pass on to the other side. It's happened before, many times-my body's aura will flicker for a while, but usually I can control it, can hang onto this world. It was just pretty bad this time. Thank you for grabbing me."

Link smiled sadly. "Don't worry about it…you helped me back when I grabbed the Master Sword as well. You just had me really worried."

Renna smiled. "I probably should have warned you about it earlier. Anyway, I'm fine now. Let's keep moving."

* * *

Link arrived back at the safe house some ten minutes later, without incident. He felt slightly strange as he closed the front door to the house behind him, shutting out the rain. This was mostly because Renna had floated into the house just next to him, and was now hovering right in front of Scray: the wounded soldier he had spoken to just before he left, who was still lying in bed. 

He held his breath, wondering whether Scray would be able to see Renna. He remembered that Renna had told him that only mostly young people could see her, but he still found it a bit hard to believe that she would be invisible to anyone.

"Good to see you back safe," Scray said, nodding at Link. "Rupert would have killed me if anything happened to you."

_I guess that means he can't see Renna, _Link thought.

"What happened to Scray?" Renna asked, peering down at the injured man. "It's good to see he's still alive, though."

"You know him, then?" Link asked Renna.

"What? Of course I know Rupert…why wouldn't I?" Scray answered him, thinking that Link was talking to him, and raising an eyebrow in concern.

"Everyone in the village knows Scray. We're a pretty close community here," Renna explained, right after Scray had finished speaking.

Link shook his head. "Stop talking, Renna! You're just confusing me." He said out loud, before he could stop himself.

Scray laughed humorlessly, looking worried. "Um, Link? You feeling okay?"

Link held his head in his hand, suddenly feeling very tired.

"Sorry…I just need some sleep." He mumbled lamely, unable to think of a good explanation for his bizarre behaviour.

"I bet, you've been on your feet for ages. There's a spare room over there you can use." Scray offered.

"Thanks, I think I'll do that." Link said, and then he realized that Scray seemed to be the only person in the small safe house.  
"Where's everyone else?" He asked.

"There are plenty of other houses, clustered near-by, which we also use. This house is mostly for the sick and injured." Scray explained, and then suddenly he bowed his head in sadness, so that his chin rested on his chest. "As you can see, I'm the only one injured at the moment. Generally, when someone is attacked by the Redead, they're either lucky enough to escape uninjured, or they're…devoured. There's rarely an in-between."

A heavy silence fell, and even Renna bowed her head where she floated, looking dejected.

"But anyway…sorry to be such a kill-joy. You better get some rest. We might need you even more tomorrow." Scray said.

Link nodded mutely, and walked through a near-by door which led into a small, single room. A rudimentary bed took up most of the space, and a window let in the smell of rain from outside. The room was dark, but the occasional flash of lightning turned the darkness briefly white.

He shut the door behind him, glad to have some privacy again. He liked Scray, but when the man talked of the Redead, he felt that he was expected to do something about it.  
Of course, he would do as much as he could to help, but the whole situation seemed impossibly bleak to him. The Redead were innumerable, and the survivors were stubbornly refusing to retreat. What was he supposed to do?

His feeling of privacy vanished as Renna materialized through the wall next to him.

"So, what are you doing now?" She asked casually, looking around the room. "I really need to find this person I'm looking for. Now, if you don't mind."

Something snapped inside Link.

"What am I doing now?" He snarled. "Well, I would _like _to get even one night's worth of sleep for a change. But instead I have to worry about the dying population of this town, about captured prisoners, Ganondorf and Redead. And then, just to top it all off nicely, I have to help a ghost find some person, and I don't even know if Malon's okay at the moment. So you tell me what I should be doing."

Though he was angry, he still tried to keep his voice low, in case Scray heard him and thought he was talking to himself again.

Renna stared at him, her mouth agape, for several heartbeats, and then she suddenly burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Link demanded, his face turning red. He realized he had lost his cool, but hadn't expected the girl to mock him.

Renna shook her head, speechless with laughter, and then composed herself.

"Sorry, sorry. Nothing's funny, really. I just realized how much I was bossing you around. I forgot how much pressure you must have on you, and I even forgot that, unlike me, you have to sleep and eat." Renna said, giving him an apologetic smile.

Link closed his mouth, his anger dying away. "Well, I shouldn't have snapped at you, either. As you can see, I'm a bit stressed right now."

"It's understandable! Oh, and who's Malon, anyway?" Renna asked mischievously.

"Huh?"

"Malon. You just mentioned her." Renna pushed.

"Oh…she's just a friend. I'm not sure why I spoke of her." Link said, and it was true: her name had just sort of slipped out of his mouth.

"Sure she isn't a girlfriend?" Renna asked coyly, her grin widening.

"Oh shut up," Link said, but couldn't stop himself from smiling. "You're so childish. And weird too, by the way."

Renna laughed. "Why thank you."

Link stretched, feeling a bit more relaxed.  
"Okay," he said decisively. "I need to work out what to do next. How much time do we have to speak to this person of yours?" He asked her. He knew that Renna was deliberately remaining vague on the identity of the person she was trying to find, but he knew better then to push her into telling him who it was.

"Not much. I need to find him as soon as possible, before anything happens to him." Renna said.

_So it's a "he" then, huh, _Link mused to himself.

"Right…well, before I can do anything, I need sleep. And then, perhaps some food and water. Then we can find this person of yours, give him your message, and then I can…what? Spend months fighting back the Redead?" Link thought out-loud.

An idea came to him. "Wait. Remember how you controlled that Redead away from me in the mausoleum? Couldn't you just persuade all of the Redead to stay away from the villagers, or even leave the town entirely?" He asked, hope in his voice.

But Renna shook her head. "My control over the Redead is very weak. I can control one, on its own, well enough. But a mob? No way. Their blood lust and mindless rage would override any persuasive skills I could use against them."

Link groaned. "Scratch that plan, then. The only way to get all these people out of here would be to rescue the prisoners from in the castle. And that's pretty much impossible."

Renna looked startled. "There are other prisoners in the castle? Huh. If you want, I might be able to help you get them out."

He felt skeptical. "Just the two of us? How will we even get through the entrance? Float through the…walls?" Link said slowly, as he realized that passing through the walls would of course be possible for him now.

The ghost nodded, grinning. "Float right through the walls, until we reach the dungeons. And then…I dunno, we'll think of something. Even Ganondorf won't expect that. So, after we find my person, I'll help you with that."

"But…didn't you say that you needed to tell this person something, so that you could pass over to the next life? How could you help me _afterwards_, then?" Link asked, confused.

Renna seemed to hesitate. "Um. I'll be able to stick around, for a bit. Just trust me. I'm not trying to trick you into helping me so I can disappear on you, or anything. Hopefully you can see that…"

Link gave Renna a long look. He _did _trust her-if she was hiding her true colors from him, she was a fantastic actor. But at the same time he felt instinctively that she was holding a lot back from him.

He yawned widely, unable to remain alert for much longer. He needed sleep badly. He had so much to think about, but if he tried to go over everything in his head right now, he would just end up going in circles.

"I trust you." He told her. "But right now I need sleep…what's the time, anyway?"

"I'll check," Renna said, and dissolved into one of the walls which led outside the house.

She came back a few seconds later, completely dry despite the rain still coming down outside.

"I think it's about…two hours after mid-night. Or around then, anyway. I was never good at reading the stars." She said, grinning embarrassedly.

Link nodded, and struggled out of his wet, muddy boots. He placed the Master Sword next to the bed, close enough so that he could grab it straight away if anything happened.

He climbed under the rough blanket of the bed, and all of the muscles in his body seemed to sigh with relief. Some mud still clung to the bottom of his trousers, but he was too tired to do anything about it.

He beckoned Renna closer to the bed sleepily.

Renna hovered over, her eyes shining with amusement.

"Why Link…I'm flattered that you want me to sleep next to you, but I'm afraid that I'm dead. You should have come looking for me sooner!" She giggled.

Link stared at her, feeling half embarrassed at what she had said, and half amused.  
"No…you idiot." He chided softly, smiling. "I need you, if you can, to keep an eye on things while I sleep. I think I'll need at _least _five hours of sleep, but if it's an emergency, wake me up before that. _Only _if it's an emergency, though. I won't be much help if I don't get some sleep anyway."

Renna mock-saluted.

"Right. It's kind of hard for me to keep track of time passing, but I'll do the best I can. Have a good sleep, Link. And thank you for helping me…I don't think I've told you what this means to me."

Link smiled, started to say something, but then found that his eyelids were too heavy to keep open. Renna, and the room behind her, suddenly faded out of his sight.

He was in a prison cell, alone. The walls were grimy and black, and everywhere he looked he saw only darkness, so that the only objects he could see were a near-by wall, and the bars of his cell, right in front of him.

He clutched at the bars, trying feebly to open them somehow. He had to get out of here-Malon was waiting for him.

The sound of footsteps came to his ears, and he sensed someone move so that they stood right in front of the bars, on the other side. The darkness was so absolute that no matter how hard he strained his eyes, he couldn't see who or what it was. But he could hear it breathing, in short, excited breaths.

"Who's there?" He called, feeling deadly afraid. "Let me out! Why am I in here?"

The person, whoever it was, laughed gleefully, softly at first, and then with more feeling.

"Why are you in here? Because of your many crimes." The person said, his voice high and maniacal.

"What crimes? I haven't done anything!" Link pleaded, wishing that he could just see who was speaking to him.

"Can you sense me, Link?" The male said, ignoring his question. "Can you sense me getting closer?"  
"What are you talking about? You're standing right in front of me!" Link cried.

A hand suddenly shot through the bars, grabbing him around his throat and squeezing down hard.

"You want to know your crimes? Start with this: you killed Navi." The voice hissed, still retaining a shred of maniacal laughter.

"No! I didn't!" Link gasped, struggling to free himself from the stranger's grip.

"You did!" The voice roared back.

"You weren't there!" Link shouted. "You have no idea what happened!"  
The hand suddenly yanked him forward, so that his whole body slammed against the bars of his cell.

As the dream-and suddenly he knew that's what it was-started to fade, the voice spoke out one last time, cutting into his mind forcefully.

"I WAS there."

* * *

He became dimly aware of his surroundings, but his body felt so _groggy, _and his mind was confused. He blinked eyes that were sore and heavy, looking around the room.  
Something suddenly flew by his head to smash against the wall right next to him-a vase or something, he thought wildly, as he scrambled up in his bed to a sitting position. 

He became aware that other objects were flying about the room through the air in a circle, as if a miniature tornado had somehow formed right in front of his bed.

"What in the…name of Hyrule!" He shouted groggily, as the wind swept through his hair.

At his words, the tornado seemed to slow, and chairs, mugs, cloth and plates fell to the floor. Finally, the wind ceased all together, and out from the centre of the vortex floated Renna, who hurried over to him.

"Finally! You're awake!" She exclaimed, her face flushed.

"Did _you _do that?" Link demanded, his head throbbing. "Ugh, I feel awful. Has it been five hours already?"

Renna bit her lower lip worriedly. "You weren't waking, so I had to start throwing things around the room! Um, it's only been like two hours-" She started.  
"WHAT?" Link cried, and all of a sudden he felt a whole lot worse. "Why'd you wake me?"

"We have a…situation. Something's outside. Outside the walls, on the roof, everywhere. I can't get a clear look at it, or them, or whatever. Scray's been yelling for you from the next room for a good minute." Renna said hurriedly.

As soon as she finished speaking, there came a startling crash from the next room, and Link practically fell out of the bed, scrambling for his sword. His body felt like lead, and wouldn't move as fast as he wanted it to.

He stood next to the bed for a second, trying to clear his head.

_Two hours! Not enough sleep! I won't be able to do anything…this better turn out to be a false alarm,_ he thought, his heart hammering.

"Okay…let's go." He croaked, but paused when he noticed that Renna had an odd, pained expression on her face.

"What is it?" He asked worriedly, wishing that he could physically grab her-to offer his support, but also to hold himself up at the same time.

Renna groaned alarmingly. "I'm too weak…to keep this up." She gasped.

The spectral body of the girl flickered dimly.

"Don't go!" Link warned, unsure what he could do.

"I won't cross over, I can get through this," she panted. "But I'm running out of time. I need…I need to rest. I'm sorry Link, I need to go. I'll be back soon…keep yourself alive!"

And with that, she vanished completely.

Link stood staring at the spot Renna's body had occupied, his heart sinking.

He had no more time for reflection, however, as Scray's voice came to him from the next room, raised in alarm: "LINK!"

He shoved the door open and rushed into the room, his sword at the ready.

Scray was still in the same bed, but he was sitting as upright as he was able, his expression alarmed.

Link ran over to the bed, his cloudy vision sweeping over the room. He spotted a smashed lantern on the floor, which would have fallen from high up on the wall-that, then, was what had caused the crash he had heard earlier.

"What's going on?" Link demanded, panting.

Scray looked extremely relieved. "Thank the goddess! There's something on the roof, trying to get in! It's gotta be a Redead! I heard a lot of noise coming from your room, and I thought one had gotten in and devoured you while you slept!"

Link strained his ears, and sure enough, over the rain, came the sound of thumping steps on the roof.

"I'm fine-no Redead attacked me. Okay, I have some questions," he said quickly, trying to get his brain working. "First, you can't walk or anything?"

"I can if you help me up. I'm sorry I didn't come to check on you, but I didn't think I'd be able to move across the room in time, and didn't know where they would attack from-" Scray said, as Link put an arm behind his shoulder and helped him step out of bed onto the floor, where he wobbled on his feet slightly.

"How do you feel?" Link asked.

"Dizzy and weak. But I'll be fine. I think there's a sword over in that cabinet there." He instructed, and Link went over, retrieved a long, steel sword, and returned it to Scray, who gripped it with relief.

"That's better." He said, his expression determined.

"How do you know that they're Redead?" Link asked, glancing up at the ceiling.

"Because they're stupid," Scray replied with a chuckle. "They've spent good minutes bumping into the walls, jumping on the roof…" As he spoke, he limped over to the front door. There was a _click _as he locked the door, and he turned back to Link, grinning. "But they could have just opened this door and got in with no trouble."

Link chuckled, feeling slightly relieved that the danger appeared to be nothing more then some Redead, which were pretty much harmless if you stayed indoors.

"So, what's the plan? We just stay put?" Link asked Scray.

"Pretty much. Everybody else should be safely indoors as well. Occasionally the Redead manage to get into houses, but since there's only about two hours since dawn breaks we should be able to hold out." Scray said, moving into the middle of the room.

The Redead outside moaned and banged against the walls of the house, which made Link feel slightly unnerved. He didn't like the idea of being trapped while enemies surrounded him.

"Yeah, just keep on knocking, you're not getting in!" Scray yelled, keeping the mood light.

The banging just intensified.

"Are they usually this…aggressive, just before dawn?" Link asked the soldier.

"Well…no, come to think of it. I wonder what's got them worked up." Scray pondered.

Link felt a chill come over him, and instinctively he picked up his shield, which he had left leaning against a wall. He felt slightly better holding it.

"Hey, know what I just realized?" Scray said, swiping his sword through the air to get his body moving better.

"What?"

"This is sort of the second time we've fought alongside one another," the soldier said, chuckling.

Link smiled tiredly. "Well Scray, no offence to you, but I hope we don't make a habit of it."

Scray laughed loudly. "Amen to that!"

Link's ears pricked up: he was suddenly aware of a weird, hissing sound coming from somewhere. He was about to mention it to Scray, when there came a huge blast, and the house shook around them.

Link was thrown to the floor, off balance, and when he struggled to his feet, he saw smoke seeping into the house, from a man-sized hole in one of the walls, which led right out into the chilly night air.

Next to him, Scray also rose to his feet, and automatically spotted the gaping hole.

"Oh no. Now we're in trouble," Scray mumbled. "This isn't really my idea of recovering from the last fight."

"Someone used a _bomb!_" Link yelled, over the moaning chorus that had sprung up from outside. "Here they come!"

The Redead poured into the house, emerging one by one from the hole and immediately spotting the two fighters.

Link and Scray, both realizing that they needed to escape, turned and ran to the front door. Scray reached it first, unlocked the door, and tried to pull it open. But the door didn't budge.  
"It's stuck!" He grunted, heaving with all his might.

Link helped pull, but it was almost as if the door was suddenly made of steel, it was so dense and unmoving.

Scray heaved his shoulder into the door, but it didn't budge at all.

"This doesn't make sense!" Link groaned, half wondering if, in his tired state, he was imagining things.

The two gave up on the door and whirled around to face the advancing Redead, who were moaning and slobbering with anticipation of fresh meat.

"What do we do?" Scray yelled, backing away from the Redead, who already were around fifteen in number.

Link shook his head. This was it. He didn't have any of his equipment on him, apart from his sword and shield. They needed fire, but nothing was available. He might be able to cut down many of them, but they would simply get back up again after a bit. They couldn't get past all the Redead safely to get out of the hole where they had come in from. They were outnumbered, and he was deadly tired.

"Stay back," he ordered. _If this is how I must die, so be it. _"I'll take down as many as I can. You just try to get out of here, once I fall."

He didn't wait for Scray to answer. He sprang forward with a furious cry, bringing the Master Sword around in an arc so that it slammed into the mid-section of the closest Redead.

He expected the sword to give the Redead a pretty deep gash, but it did something different.

It cut the walking corpse in half.

The Redead screamed in fury as the top half of its body slid sideways to the floor, its legs toppling backwards with it.

Link, amazed and dazed, stared at the Master Sword in amazement. He had no idea any sword could be so _powerful_.

But he hesitated too long, and a second Redead grabbed him, pulling him forward towards death.

A sword slashed through the arm of the Redead, cutting it away from the body and releasing him from the monster, and suddenly Scray was beside him, pulling him away from the mass of Redead.

"Stay focused, Link!" Scray shouted. "If you keep using that sword like that, we might still get out of this alive!"  
The soldier then jumped toward a Redead, plunging his sword into its chest and sending it staggering back against its brethren.

Link shook himself, dropped his shield to give him more maneuverability, and entered the throng of Redead, ducking his body down, away from the monsters' teeth and hands.

The Master Sword lunged out again and again, and Link soon discovered that the sword had an unusual effect on the Redead: he only had to cut the undead anywhere on their bodies and the wound would smoke and burn, the creatures themselves falling to the ground and not getting back up.

Scray, seeing how effective Link's sword was against the undead, spent the fight keeping the Redead away from Link's back and unprotected areas, and, once the Redead's numbers diminished, helped herd the creatures towards Link so that the hero could finish them off with his sword.

Soon, all of the Redead lay unmoving on the floor of the house, smoke rising up from their bodies. Link, panting heavily, still could not believe his luck.

"I…I can't believe they're all defeated. Link, where did you get that sword? Never mind, you can tell me later. Let's get out of here, I don't feel-"Scray began, elatedly.

The arrow whistled through the hole in the wall and thudded into Scray's chest.

The young soldier clutched at the shaft of the arrow with one hand, his eyes wide.

"No…" He managed to say, before he toppled over backwards.

Link caught him just before he hit the ground, and gently lowered the soldier to the floor.

He saw that Scray was still alive, but his breathing was fast and labored. The arrow stuck out of his chest as a straight rod, its tail barbed.

Time seemed to slow down for Link. He knew he couldn't save Scray: he was no healer.

Still, he had the absurd thought that the man shouldn't die with the arrow still in him, but he couldn't decide how to get the arrow out.

He felt numb.

Laughter floated through the house, from outside, followed by a voice.

"Whoops! Hit the wrong target. Oh well! Hey, Link! I've come for you. You did pretty well to take care of all those Redead-you killer, you. I'll meet you upstairs!"

The voice died away, and Link heard a loud thump come from the ceiling as something heavy landed.

_The roof, then_. He thought.

He looked once more at Scray, who was staring at him with wide eyes.  
"Get…out…"the soldier gasped.

"Hang in there, Scray." Link told him, blinking back tears. "Help's on its way. Just…don't die, okay?"

Scray managed to laugh painfully, as if to indicate that he couldn't do much to help it.

Link stood up, dragging the Master Sword and his shield up with him. He felt an odd sensation come over him, a calm fury he had only experienced a few times in his life.

Whoever loosed that arrow would die, he told himself.

He scanned the open hole, leading outside. That would be the easiest, and normally the _only _way that he could get outside and up to the roof. But whoever was out there would be expecting that.

Running on instinct, he managed to pick up one of the Redead's body, holding his breath to protect him from the awful smell. He walked over to the hole, propped the Redead up in front of him, and then kicked the body out into the night.

He watched the Redead's body flail out over the grass, and a split second later two arrows thudded into its back, as whoever was on the roof fired at the corpse.

Link turned and was running across the room before the body hit the grass. He climbed up a tall, wooden cabinet to its top, using drawers as stepping stones, and then launched himself off the cabinet, grabbing one of the wooden beams that served as the rafters for the house.

Pulling his body on top of the beam, he crawled along it until he was under a particular spot in the roof. He glanced up at the ceiling, readying his sword.

* * *

The archer frowned as the arrows hit home into what he at first thought had to be Link, springing out from the house. But now he could see that it was actually one of the bodies of the Redead he had sent into the house. 

He clicked his tongue in irritation, but a smile also came faintly to his lips.

_Smart._

He readied another arrow, expecting Link to try and make a run for it, now that his diversion had been played. But seconds passed, and nobody emerged from the house.

The archer frowned. He had made sure the front door was strongly barred, so Link could not have gotten out that way. Was there some other way out of the house? He didn't think so.

He remained in the same position, watching the exit, growing more and more concerned and on edge.

_Move!_ His instincts suddenly screamed at him, and he sprang backwards just as the wood below him exploded upwards in a shower of splinters and a flash of red tunic.

He wasn't fast enough. Link's sword, which had easily cut through the wood of the house, sliced into his left leg, leaving a deep gash.

He growled in fury, jumping away from the emerging swordsman, and regained his balance a few meters away, perched on the outer edge of the roof.

Link, his breaths coming out in angry pants, landed on the roof and turned to face his enemy, his eyes narrowed in rage.

The archer smirked, and tossed his bow over his shoulder, where it fell to the ground below. He would no longer need it.

* * *

"You will pay for this." Link stated, trying to keep his voice calm and walking towards the man in front of him. 

He was sick of being the victim, being the prey. But mostly he could no longer stand the fact that whoever chose to get close to him would be in danger from people like this. He would put a stop to that, starting right _now._

The Master Sword dragged along the wood as he walked, throwing up sparks. The rain still fell, making the roof treacherous to traverse, but he would not be on the defensive; not this time. This time he would attack.

Finally, the man's face came into view, and the first shock he felt was the fact that it wasn't a man, but a teenager. The second and most alarming shock came to him when he realized that he knew the teenager well. Better then anybody else in the world did.

Dark Link smiled, his mouth stretching out in a feral grin. He brushed his blonde hair away from his eyes, and glanced down at the cut in his leg briefly. He was dressed identical to Link, but his clothes were a dark black, and a hood covered much of his head.

"_Ouch," _he complained, grinning. "You got me good there, Link. But wait, I'm not sure we've been introduced. Hello. I'm you."

* * *

**Before I say anything about the chapter, I just have to say thanks to everyone who left reviews for Link's Trials, or sent me messages. I would have waited a lot longer to write this chapter, had you guys not encouraged me to do so, so thank you!  
And chapter 9 received 17 reviews! 17! I didn't even know it had gotten that many, until I glanced at my stats page. That is honestly more reviews then I ever thought I'd get for a chapter, so I'm a bit speechless. **

But boy, this chapter. I hope you guys and girls liked it. It had a lot of action in it, lots of drama (I hope I wasn't too heavy-handed with ze drama), and some character development. I have gotten several reviews saying that I should put Dark Link in this story, and now I finally have. Since The Ocarina of Time doesn't have too many characters I can use, I need everyone I can in the story, and Dark Link is a pretty interesting character anyway.  
**  
I'm really looking forward to writing the next few chapters: they should hopefully wrap up everything that's going on in this part of the story. What's happening with Renna? Where did Dark Link come from? Will Link be able to save the prisoners? Is Scray dead? When will Ingo come back into the story! (That last one was a joke, don't worry...) **

Oh, I should also clarify that, at the moment in the story, Malon is still being held captive at Lon Lon Ranch. It's been a while between chapters, so some of you might be thinking "Wait, isn't Malon meant to be showing up soon?" Nope, it'll still be a couple of nights before that happens. Sorry for the confusion.

After the current plot-line wraps up, I think I also want at least one light-hearted chapter. I don't want this story to be dark all the time.  
Um, not much else to say. Renna is a very...interesting character to write. She's so unpredictable, and you don't really know what's up with her at the moment. And poor Scray!

Lastly, expect the next chapter to come much sooner then it took me to write this one. Thanks for reading, and please keep sending your comments and reviews! They help me out so much.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello! I told you that the next chapter will be up earlier. I should warn you guys though that this is the longest chapter yet-but it couldn't be helped, because so much happens in this chapter, and a few bomb-shells are dropped. I can't believe I'm already up to chapter eleven with this story, as well!  
Thanks to everyone for all the reviews, and I really hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Link stared at the dark figure, his battle-lust dying down, to be replaced by a horrible confusion. 

On the opposite side of the roof, his doppelganger grinned once more, the rain dripping from his lips, but apart from that small action he seemed to be waiting for Link to speak.

"You can't-" Link finally found the strength to speak.

"I can't be you?" Dark Link cut in. "Use your eyes, Link. I am identical to you. Only difference is that I have a rather…_mean _streak." Again, the sneer.

Link shook his head, drops of rain flying from his hair. "This doesn't make any sense!" He practically screamed at the dark figure.

Fatigue once again set in, and he was reminded that his body was running on empty. His body swooned slightly.

The figure chuckled, blonde hair identical to Link's shade peeking out from under his dark hood.  
"Whoa Link, you sound stressed. Must be something to do with all that killing you've been doing lately." Dark Link gloated, moving towards Link over the slippery roof. "Fortunately for you, I'm in a good mood, so I might as well explain this whole situation."  
Link glared at his mirror image, trying to keep his sanity. "Spit it out." He snapped. In his mind's eye, he could picture Scray's body lying unattended on the floor of the house below. Had the poor soldier slipped away yet, or was he still struggling vainly for life, he wondered gloomily.

"Ganondorf, you see," Dark Link explained, "is a smart man. He knew that, one day, you could slip past his defenses, maybe get into Hyrule Castle Town and threaten his castle, however stupid that would be. So he had powerful magic set up. In this case, as soon as you stepped foot near enough to the castle, the magic sensed your presence and activated. At that moment, I came into being."

At his words, Link felt not fear, but relief. For a moment, after seeing the doppelganger, he had feared that he had lost it, and had somehow imagined something that was impossible.

"You're not even human, then," he spat. "How can you be identical to me?"

Dark Link laughed lowly. "I am identical to you, apart from my appearance, by the memories we both share. Once activated, the magic entered your mind, and recorded everything it found there, and gave it to me. I know everything you know. I have all your skills. But I have a number of different beliefs. I believe that Ganondorf is destined to become the true ruler of this land, for instance. I exist to stop you from stripping him from power, Link. And, I have a different name. You may call me Dark Link."

Link frowned. Everything his enemy-this _Dark Link, _had said sounded true and plausible.

Only, he could not remember feeling anything enter his mind-surely he would have noticed _something _as it happened.

And then he remembered the strange dream he had experienced, and he groaned.

"_Can you sense me, Link?" _The stranger in his dream had said. _"Can you sense me getting closer?"_

That must have been the moment that Dark Link had come into existence- Ganondorf's magic using his memories to make an ultimate nemesis-someone who knew all of his weaknesses.

"I see from your eyes that you understand now." Dark Link whispered, coming ever closer to him. "I'm glad. Now you will die with the full knowledge of who killed you-yourself."

Dark Link stood only an arm-span away from Link now, a confident grin on his face. The grin vanished instantly as Link snaked out an arm, grabbed Dark Link's shirt just below the neck, and wrenched his body forward so that his forehead slammed into Dark Link's head in a sudden head butt.

Dark Link fell backwards onto the roof, and looked up dazed to see the tip of Link's sword hovering before his face. Link had dropped his shield to the roof in order to grab and head-butt Dark Link.

"I am so _sick _of Ganondorf's filth coming after me," Link raged, glaring down at the fallen swordsman. "I don't really care if you think you're like me, because you're _not_. When I kill, it's to protect people. You seem to get pleasure out of killing for _fun_-that soldier you shot was twice the man you are. And tonight, I will avenge his death."  
Dark Link blinked up at Link in shock, holding his forehead with one hand, and then all of a sudden he burst out laughing manically.

"That's the spirit, Link," he chuckled, shaking his head with mirth. "Knowing you, I admit that I expected you to be more of a push-over then this." He suddenly looked up at Link, and his smile vanished. "But don't pretend that you kill to protect people, when I know you kill only to protect _yourself. _You pretend you're acting for the good of the people, but really we both know your actions are purely selfish."

"You can say what you want," Link sighed. "But seeing as you're just a tool of Ganondorf's, I'm not about to take whatever comes out of your mouth seriously."

Now Dark Link's face darkened under a hateful scowl.  
"I am no _tool._" He hissed, and then he smiled slyly. "But tell me something. What did you do when Navi was taken from us? Did you save her?"

"Shut up!" Link yelled, stabbing the sword warningly towards Dark Link's face.

Suddenly, Dark Link rolled backwards, out of reach of Link's late swing of his sword. He bounded up on his feet and drew his own sword, circling Link and laughing.

"What's the matter, did I hit a nerve? Of course I did. Because we both know that you didn't save Navi-you _ran. _And you've been running ever since!" Dark Link barked.

With an animal growl Link lunged at Dark Link, and their swords clashed together in the rain. Link leaned his weight against his sword, so that Dark Link's sword was forced backwards, towards his neck.

Dark Link gritted his teeth together, pushing back and straining, but Link's anger gave him extra strength, and the swords remained locked in place.

Link glared into his mimic's blue eyes, and then suddenly drew in a surprised breath as he noticed that a change was coming over Dark Link. The blue in his eyes faded, slowly replaced with a deep red color. Blonde streaks of liquid ran down Dark Link's body, and it took Link a second to realize that the blonde color was coming off his hair, as if a dye was being washed off the hair by the rain. The blonde strands vanished, to be replaced by a deep black color, which spread until it covered all of Dark Link's hair.

Then, with a smug smile, Dark Link leaned forward, and the swords moved so that now Link was struggling to keep both swords from his body.

"And the transformation is complete," Dark Link whispered through half-closed eyes. "Now my abilities are at their fullest."

With ease, Dark Link kicked a foot out, catching Link in the mid-section, and at the same moment wrenching his sword away from Link's.

Link fell backward with a startled cry, and had to catch onto the tiles of the roof with his hands to stop himself from falling off. He stood up slowly, balancing on the edge, and was about to lunge his sword at Dark Link again when movement from the ground caught his eye.

He turned to see Rupert hurrying towards the house with several other men, their swords drawn and their faces pale.  
Link cupped his hands to his mouth like a megaphone and shouted down at Rupert. "Rupert! Get inside and help Scray! He's dying!"

Rupert looked up at Link in surprise, but thankfully the tall man did not hesitate, and instead ducked his head and ran into the hole in the side of the house.

Link looked back at Dark Link just in time to deflect a wild stab that had been aimed at his eyes. He side-stepped, moving away from the edge of the roof, and parried blow after blow from Dark Link's sword.

Dark Link's sword snaked past Link's defenses to deliver a nasty cut to Link's cheek. Link responded by using a foot to kick his shield up from the ground, grabbing it in mid-air, and butting it against Dark Link's face, causing the evil version of him to reel away momentarily.

But Dark Link came back straight away, and cut at Link's left hand, causing a red gash to appear and forcing Link to drop the shield once more.

Grabbing the stunned Link, he thrust his head into Link's, and then with a flick of his sword un-armed the falling hero, sending the Master Sword clattering off of the edge of the roof.

Link hit the roof hard on his back, his breath knocked out of him in a sudden _whoosh_.

He stared up, panting, as Dark Link held his sword against his neck.

"Had to pay you back for head-butting me the first time," Dark Link said calmly, rubbing his forehead with a hand. His red eyes flashed menacingly, and he grinned wickedly.

"How's it feel to be beaten by your better-half?" He mocked.

Link shut his eyes, each breath he took causing him pain.

_He was too fast, _he told himself grimly. _And I didn't have the energy. And…maybe what he said was true. Maybe I did kill Navi. Maybe I am selfish._

He opened his eyes again, squinting from the rain that fell down on his face and looking up into the eyes of Dark Link.

Then, a strange, disbelieving, but calm look came to Link's eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Dark Link demanded, a slight fear crossing over his features.

Link didn't answer, but continued to watch the single tile float slowly in the air just behind Dark Link's head.  
Sensing that something was amiss, Dark Link turned ponderously, and at that moment the tile swung back and crashed into Dark Link's head, shattering on impact.

Dark Link cried out in pain and stumbled back, and Link rolled forward and struggled to his feet, turning around to watch as his enemy grabbed at his head in pain.

"Link!" Dark Link screamed, a thin stream of blood dripping down a side of his face, staining some of his black hair red. "Link! What did you do? What kind of trick is this?"

Dark Link watched as Link turned his head slightly and smiled thankfully towards the distance, at nothing. He opened his mouth to shout at him again, but stopped as he noticed another tile floating up from the roof just in front of Link. It paused in the air, and then shot forward towards his body. He rolled to one side quickly, dodging the tile, but as he stood up again another tile struck him in the middle, causing him to double over in pain.

"How are you doing this?" He yelled, confusion in his eyes as he looked at Link.

Link turned to Renna, who stood on the roof next to him holding another tile, ready to throw it at Dark Link.

"Guess he can't see you," Link whispered at her. Renna turned and gave him a wink, her red eyes flashing.

She threw the tile at him, but Dark Link rushed forward and slashed at it with his sword, causing it to shatter. He ran at Link, who side-stepped out of the way of the rushing swordsman. But Dark Link didn't turn to go after him, and instead slashed his sword wildly through the air where he estimated was the point of origin of the tiles, figuring out that something invisible was attacking him.

But Renna was no longer standing there and instead had circled around to Dark Link's back. She brought down yet another tile on the back of his head with all her might, and Dark Link staggered and screamed in fury.

He swirled around with his sword in frustration, but, hitting nothing, he suddenly ran across the length of the roof and bounded across a gap to land on the roof of another house. He turned back to Link, one hand clutching his head.

"So much for playing _fair, _huh Link? I don't know what you just pulled, but next time you won't be so lucky!" Dark Link called over. He then ran unsteadily over the roof-tops, quickly vanishing behind the sheets of rain into the darkness.

* * *

Renna ran over to Link and put her arm around his shoulder, trying to give his body some support. It wasn't the same as being held up by an actual person who was all physically there, but Link felt a slight buffer regardless.  
"Thanks, Renna," he coughed, as his head pounded dizzily. "Thanks for saving my life again." 

Renna pulled a face. "I didn't do much. And, if I could have gotten here sooner, you might not be so beat up."

Link retrieved his shield from where it lay on the roof, and then Renna helped him over to the edge of the roof, where he bent his knees, preparing to jump down to the grass below.

"Link…why did that guy look almost exactly like you?" Renna asked quietly. "Is he your brother or something?"  
Link laughed hollowly. "Brother? No. I have no family. He was…well. Would you believe he was an evil force of matter and magic sent to take me out?"  
Renna gave him a look. "Of course I believe that. Look who you're talking to." She said, smiling.

Link chuckled slightly, and then his addled brain remembered Scray. He turned to Renna.

"Do you mind keeping away from me until I'm along again? I don't want any distractions." He took a deep breath. "It's Scray. That guy-he called himself Dark Link-shot him through the chest with an arrow. I think he's dead." He said softly, looking downwards.

Renna looked away from him, shutting her eyes quickly in a look of pain. "No…" she whispered, almost to herself. "Not Scray as well. When will this stop?"

At that moment Rupert came running up from the distance, his sword still drawn. Link figured that must mean that Rupert and the men he had with him had already retrieved Scray's body and left the house, if Rupert was just now returning.

"Link!" Rupert called up. "Are you okay? We heard the fight coming from the roof when we went into the house, but we had to take care of Scray. Who were you fighting?"

Link dropped to the wet grass below, mud splashing up from the sodden ground. Seeing the Master Sword lying in the mud, he picked it up and turned to Rupert.  
"The person I was fighting is gone now." He said to Rupert quickly, who was gazing at the ruined house in shock, as if seeing it for the first time. "The Re-dead attacked us while we were in the house-I guess you saw the bodies. But you said you had to take care of Scray. Is he…" Link found he couldn't finish the sentence.

Rupert bowed his head, and Link's heart sank.  
The soldier rubbed at his beard tiredly, before he finally spoke again. "Scray's not dead yet. But…it's not looking good. He's lost a lot of blood, and the arrow might have hit a major organ. We have a doctor tending to him now, but he's very inexperienced." Rupert said with a sigh.

"I'm so sorry, Rupert. I should have done more to protect him." Link started, but Rupert cut him off with a curt hand gesture.  
"Say not another word!" He cried. "The fault lies with me. I shouldn't have let the sick house be unguarded. I thought he would be safe there, because the Redead had already attacked once tonight, and they're not usually so ordered and adept at working together."

He bowed his head once more, and Link saw a man who was almost at the end of his rope standing before him.

A movement caught his eye, and he looked to his left to see Renna gliding forward slowly, towards Rupert. He could have felt annoyed that she had not listened to his request to stay back, but she moved with such purpose that he could only feel curious at what she was doing.

She stopped in front of Rupert, and raised a shaking hand to gently stroke the side of his cheek. Rupert shivered and looked up suddenly, looking around at the air as if he sensed something.

"Daddy…" Renna choked, crying softly. "Please don't be sad. You're stronger then this."

Her tears fell to the ground with the rain, but Rupert, oblivious to his daughter's presence, only stared about him with increasing confusion.

_Her father. _Link thought, with a sense of melancholy. Now that he looked, he sort of saw a resemblance between the two of them. He remembered how Rupert could, at times, joke and seem at ease with everything, but at other times could have a dead, depressed look in his eyes.

"Link…" Rupert murmured. "I suddenly feel ill at ease, but for what reason I cannot say. I have to leave, and check on Scray."

He turned slowly, hesitating somewhat, and began to walk slowly away from the wrecked house.  
"No!" Renna cried, after her father. "Don't go!"

Rupert seemed to pause in his next step, but kept on walking still.  
"Wait!" Link shouted, and Rupert turned back, a questioning look on his face.  
Link hurried forward, and said to Renna out of the corner of his mouth, "Tell me now what you want to say to your father."

Renna nodded, the tears still falling, and the two of them walked up to Rupert.

"Rupert," Link began slowly. "I need to tell you something that will sound crazy."

He glanced at Renna, who began to speak her message.

"I have a message for you from…from your daughter, Renna." Link repeated the unheard words to Rupert.  
The man rocked back like he had just taken a blow, and he glared with a mixture of anger, sadness and hope at Link.

"How do you-" He began, but Link interrupted him.

"Your daughter says: 'You have done all you can for the people of Hyrule Castle Town, and for the memory of me. I don't want you to stay in this hell any longer, nor any of the other townspeople. Go, and start your life over one more time. I know it will be hard, but you and I survived after mum left us, and now I know you have the strength to live your life after I am gone.'" Link intoned gravely, struggling to keep his voice from breaking.

The tears had begun to fall from the soldier's eyes, as he continued to stare at Link in disbelief.

"'So please…Rupee. Please leave before there is more death, and give up trying to bring my broken body back from the castle. If I know that you're safe, I can die in peace, and I can die happy. I love you.'" Link said. He should have felt weird telling another man all this, but in his heart he could see that both himself and Rupert knew that the words came not from him, but from Renna.

Rupert tried to choke back the tears, as he struggled to speak.

"A part of me…is saying that this is impossible. But, somehow, I have always sensed a presence around me ever since my daughter was taken from me." Rupert managed to say. "You saw my daughter?" He asked.

Link nodded grimly. "I'm sorry I can't offer more proof." He muttered.

"You've offered proof enough. You're new to the town, so you could not possibly know about my dead wife and daughter. And, you said 'Rupee'…that was her pet name for me that only the two of us used." He said, and took a deep, shuddering breath. "So she's really gone, then. Link…if you somehow see my daughter…or…her ghost, or in whatever form she came to speak to you, tell her that I love her."  
Without another word he turned and walked back towards the distant buildings, his shoulders hunched in sorrow.

With a wrenching cry of anguish Renna fell to the ground, sobbing, and Link knelt to rest a hand on her shoulder, feeling miserable.

She turned and hugged him tightly, so that he could feel a slight sensation of her body, and she wept loudly.

"It's not fair," she said in between racking sobs. "I only wanted to live a simple life with my father! Why did Ganondorf's men take me, and the other townspeople? Why? How could one man do all this?"

Link shook his head mutely, anger flashing in his eyes.

"Do you think he'll listen to you, and leave this place?" He asked her.

She cried louder, digging her fingernails softly into his shoulder. "Who knows, with that stubborn ox? But…at least he seemed to believe you, right? I thought he might. My father has always been pretty open-minded about the supernatural and stuff."

The rain fell down Link's neck to his back, making him shiver. Renna noticed this and stood up suddenly, wiping her eyes and trying to stop sobbing.  
"Let's go…I want you out of the rain, at least." She ordered, walking towards the same buildings her father had headed for.  
"Are you going to be okay?" Link asked, jogging to keep up with the ghost.

"Not really. This isn't exactly something you get over easily, even when you're dead." She muttered.  
"You're not going to disappear suddenly?" He asked, his body sending out painful spasms from all over the place as he walked.

"Not yet." She said.

* * *

Renna led him to another small house, and he opened the door and stumbled in. Several people were crowded around the main room of the house, among them Rupert, who knelt at the side of a bed where Scray lay, his face deathly pale. The arrow had been removed from his chest, and his body bandaged. A doctor stood near-by, shaking his head to another man. 

Link walked over to the bed and looked down at Scray. He was still breathing, he saw with a shock, but it was labored.

Rupert looked up at him, his face still tear-streaked.

"There's nothing more we can do for him now. The arrow managed to miss his major organs, but the internal damage is still great, and he's lost too much blood. He'll slip away during the night." He told Link.

Link bowed his head, and Rupert stood up and gave him a look-over.  
"You're not doing so well yourself," he muttered, and beckoned to the doctor, who was but a young man with a long face.

"I'm fine," Link tried to say, but the doctor made him sit down and before long he had patched up the nasty cut on his cheek, stitched up the cut on his hand, and bandaged a number of other wounds.

"Get some sleep, Link!" Rupert ordered. "I know you haven't slept much since you've been here. But before you do, eat and drink this." And he pushed some buttered bread and a jug of water into his hands.

Not protesting even in the slightest, he devoured the bread quickly, and drank the whole jug of water so fast he almost choked, and had to be pounded on the back by Rupert.  
"Make sure you post guards around the houses," Link warned Rupert. "Be on the look out for a swordsman who looks…well, a lot like me. He might attack again, and may be able to control the Re-dead."  
Rupert frowned, but told Link that he would do just that. Link wasn't sure if he believed him about the swordsman, or if he just thought that he was rambling from lack of sleep and exhaustion.

He dimly heard Rupert say something about there being a bed in a side-room. Stumbling away from everyone standing around and whispering, he entered the room, saw the bed, and barely managed to reach it before his body collapsed on him. Letting his sword and shield drop next to the bed, he fell on the pillow and sheets and was asleep before any other thought hit him.

* * *

For the remainder of the night, Rupert and several of Scray's friends stood watch over Scray's body. Just before dawn however, weariness took its toll on the men, and, with the knowledge that they could do nothing more for their friend, they began to drop off to sleep one by one, until only the doctor and Renna remained awake, the ghost unseen by all, hovering in front of Scray's bed. 

She watched as the young man's breaths grew more and more shallow, and she knew that it would not be long until he succumbed to death. She wondered if, when Scray's soul left his body, she would see it depart, but told herself that it was unlikely.

With one last shuddering breath, Scray's chest fell, and then remained still. She watched the doctor move towards Scray, check his pulse, and shake his head to himself. He was gone.  
Renna bowed her head, too emotionally drained and dead inside to even cry. _If Scray had held on for a little longer_, she thought, _he might have pulled through.._  
She clenched her fists, suddenly angry. She looked down at Scray's body, and in her mind's eye she saw herself as a young girl of only five years of age. She was on her knees outside her house, and was crying, a bird lying motionless on the ground before her. What had happened next she still could not explain to herself, but she suddenly knew what she had to do.

Steeling herself, she rushed quickly at Scray's body.

* * *

Rupert awoke to pandemonium. People in the room around him were crying out in surprise, pointing and backing away from Scray's bed. 

Bleary-eyed, he sat up from where he had been sleeping on the floor, and stumbled over to the doctor, who was looking down at Scray's body with an alarmed expression.

"What's happening?" Rupert demanded.

"He passed away…" the doctor mumbled, shaking his head, perplexed.

"Oh no…god no." Rupert moaned, feeling his heart fall. He had been expecting that Scray wouldn't pull through, but it still came as a heart-wrenching shock to him.

The doctor grabbed his shoulder. "He passed away, yes, but…I just saw his body spasm alarmingly. I've never seen anything like it. He still has no pulse, so there's no explanation for it." He said.  
Another villager, backing away from the bed, said fearfully, "He jolted up about two feet in the air!"

Rupert shook his head, staring down at the soldier, and then right before his eyes he watched astonished as Scray's body underwent another spasm, shaking forcefully. It was almost as if he was being struck by invisible lightning.

"Whoa!" The doctor shouted, feeling once more for a pulse in Scray's arm. He then grabbed Rupert's arm in disbelief. "Look! See how his chest moves now! But I'm feeling for a pulse and I'm still finding nothing. Somehow air is being pushed into his body-look, his mouth is opening! Amazing!"

The other men in the room made warding-off gestures and stayed as far as possible away from the bed, but Rupert leaned forward and brushed his arm through the air over Scray's body. He felt nothing solid there.

Again, Scray's body leaped up on its own, and then again, and again.

"What's happening to him?" Rupert shouted to the doctor in panic.  
"I don't know! Maybe it's some kind of dark magic! I don't like this." The doctor shouted back, but he looked more interested then fearful.

Scray jolted one more time, and then Rupert's heart leapt to his throat as, impossibly, the dead soldier began to take gasping, wheezing breaths, his chest rising and falling.

The doctor's jaw dropped, and he turned to Rupert ashen-faced.

"He's back!" He said in disbelief, feeling Scray's pulse jump to life.

Exhausted and drained, Renna floated weakly through the wall, leaving the house as the villagers all clustered fearfully around Scray's bed.

* * *

Link awoke and stretched, sitting up in bed and gazing around him groggily. He must have slept deeply, because for once he didn't remember having any dreams. Light streamed into the small room he was in via a small window in the wall, bur the rain still fell outside.  
_It's still raining? _He thought to himself incredulously, and he wondered how long he had slept for. 

Before getting out of bed, he tried to remind himself of what had happened, and what needed to be done next.

_Okay, so I passed on Renna's message to her father. I fought some psycho version of myself, who would have killed me if it hadn't been for Renna. Where did I leave Epona? Oh yeah, I stabled her right near the entrance to Hyrule Castle Town. What am I doing now? I have to get the villagers away from this place, don't I? Which means going into the castle to rescue the prisoners. Renna promised she would help me. _This was how his jumbled thoughts went.

Suddenly with a pang he remembered how he had left Scray the night before, on the verge of death. He hopped out of bed, his body feeling stiff, and quickly walked into the main room of the house. It was deserted, apart from Rupert, who was sitting on a chair near the bed where Scray's body lay.

Link ran over to the bed, dreading the worse.

"Is he okay?" He asked Rupert. Rupert looked up at him…and grinned widely, causing Link's spirits to soar.

"I think he's going to make it. It's…it's amazing, Link. He died last night, and yet as we watched he was returned to us." Rupert said in wonder, looking at Scray, who now seemed to be breathing more easily.

"He died?" Link asked, puzzled. "And when you say he was returned to you, do you mean that the doctor brought him back?"  
Rupert shook his head. "The doctor didn't touch him. I still don't know if it was dark magic, a miracle, or what that did it…but I think I sensed my daughter's presence at one point…though maybe I am just being hopeful and imagining things." He said, standing up from the chair.

"Things need doing around here now. I need to help prepare for tonight, especially as the danger appears to be growing for us. Today I tried to convince the villagers once again to leave, but they refused. Anyway, if you'll excuse me…" Rupert said, and headed to the door leading outside.  
"Wait," Link called, and he paused at the door. "Tell me something…have _you _changed your mind about staying?"

Rupert hesitated before answering. "I can't go. Even if it's true that my daughter wishes it. I can't just give up now and save myself, leaving all the villagers behind to be condemned to death." He left then, and Link, sighing, turned around and with a shock noticed that Renna was sitting gloomily at a round table in the corner.

"You slept for ages…" Renna admonished, as he sat down at the table opposite her.

"Did I?" Link muttered, a lot of his attention focused on the food and milk he now saw on the table: cheeses, bread, and fruit were heaped in the middle.

Renna laughed. "Go ahead, eat." She offered, and Link dug in.

"But yeah, it's around four in the afternoon now." She stated.

Link almost choked on the bread roll he was devouring. He had not realized he had been out for so long!

"Not that I can blame you or anything," she went on, and Link noticed once more how moody she looked.

"What's wrong?" He asked her. He looked towards Scray's bed. "And you didn't happen to have anything to do with the strange happenings of last night, did you?"

She smiled slightly, seeming pleased with herself. "I _might _have." She admitted coyly. Then she shook her head, and the smile disappeared. "I've just been thinking. I know I promised you that I'd help break you into the castle, but…now I don't think it's a good idea at all."

"Why's that?" Link asked, pausing in the act of eating some cheese.

"Because I'd be able to get you in okay, but after that you'd be stuck in there, with the prisoners! I can't make everyone pass back out through the walls, and I'll be weak because…well, just because. You'd have to get back out through the castle itself, and that's suicide!" She said unhappily.

Link stopped eating, thinking about the situation.

"I know it's going to be hard," he said finally. "But I think I'm willing to risk it. Ganondorf won't be expecting someone to get past his defenses like we will, so we'll have the element of surprise on our side. And you must have heard your father just then-he said he wasn't going leave the town unless everyone else leaves as well, and the only way to do that is to get the prisoners out."

"Yes, but you'll _die_, Link! So not only will the prisoners remain in the castle, but Hyrule will lose its best hope for getting rid of Ganondorf! It's crazy!" She wailed.

"I have to try. Besides, when we get in there, not only will I hopefully have a number of villagers to help me a bit, but you'll also be able to scout ahead through the walls, won't you?" Link asked.

Renna shook her head sadly, her eyes downcast. "I might…have to leave you once we get in the castle." She whispered.

_You're still not telling me something, _Link thought, studying the ghost. He looked out a window of the house, and noticed that the light outside was already growing dimmer. Looking back at the prone form of Scray, he made his decision.

"I'm doing it." He told her. "Right now. It will be night soon, so the Re-dead will probably attack again. And now I also have that Dark Link to be worried about. The villagers are all dead tired, so I can't see them lasting much longer, and I don't want anything to get to Scray again. He's fought hard to stay alive, so I'm not going to fail him this time."

Renna blinked at him, and then lowered her eyes, thinking about what he had just said. She looked up again and then nodded, adding, "But it's your funeral…"

Link nodded and concentrated on finishing eating. He would need all his energy, and did not want what happened to him last night-the crippling exhaustion-to happen again.

Renna looked out the window at the town outside, her mood sad and reflective.

"I used to be happy here," she said suddenly, making Link look up at her. "Even when it was just my dad and me."

"How did your mother die? If you don't mind my asking…" Link said tentatively.

"I don't mind. She passed away from a disease when I was just eight. She had been sick for years before-hand though, so we had been told to expect her death. Still, when that day finally came I was devastated. I still am, really." Renna said, sighing deeply.

"You haven't…seen your mother around or anything after you passed over?" Link asked, choosing his words carefully. "I guess you haven't passed over completely yet though. I don't really know how the whole thing works."

"I don't know how it works either." Renna admitted. "But no, I haven't seen her."

"This might sound weird," Link said spontaneously. "But…I wish you weren't dead, Renna. What's happened to you and your family is awful."

Renna smiled grimly, and an odd look came over her face. "Thanks. Link, I should tell you something before we go. I…no. Never mind." She trailed off, looking away from him.

Link got up from the table, grabbed his equipment, and took one last look at Scray, partly to check if he was still breathing okay.

"Let's go, then." He said.

* * *

They traveled through the town until they reached the castle, meeting no resistance along the way. In fact, Link was surprised to see that the perimeter of the castle was completely unguarded. But then he figured that Ganondorf didn't exactly need any security _outside _the castle's walls, as inside it was likely to be set out like a gigantic death-trap. 

He tried to remember the castle as it had looked during the previous king's reign: organized and structured, with white stonework built over lush green grounds. Now that Ganondorf occupied the castle, it was a distorted opposite of its former self, now twisted, dark black, and lying on dead earth.

Renna led him over to a wall of the castle and then turned to face him, her expression apprehensive.  
"Are you ready?" She asked him.

"Yeah. Anything to get out of the rain," Link joked, when really his stomach was turning with a sense of dread.

Renna wrapped herself around him, and he walked forward into the wall, feeling the same weird sensation he had felt the last time he had walked through a wall. This wall was thinker though, and he kept walking for some time before he passed through to the other side, where he found himself in a deserted corridor, the carpet beneath his feet a bright red. Flaming torches lined the walls.

"Keep going forward, and don't stop moving!" Renna said warningly. "We don't want to get spotted."

Link nodded and quickly passed through the wall ahead of him. From that moment on he followed Renna's instructions, though the ghost often had to guess the next direction to go, and they had to double back through walls a number of times.

They passed through multiple rooms, corridors and balconies, all which seemed interesting to Link, though he dared not stop to take a look around.

After Renna led Link down to the basement of the castle, they finally emerged in a dingy and dark stone corridor. Renna suddenly moved forward, away from Link, and collapsed onto the ground.

"I'm too close…" Link thought he heard her whisper to herself.  
"What's wrong?" He asked, concern in his voice as he noticed that her body was once again flickering out of existence.

"I need to go, Link. I'm sorry. It's been real fun. Well, not all of it, but you know what I mean. Keep going down this corridor, and you should get to the prison. Don't die, okay?" She said, her voice fading along with her body.

Then she was gone, and Link was left standing alone in the cold grip of the dungeon. A part of him couldn't believe that she was really gone for good, but he made himself walk along the corridor, trying to concentrate on his current objective.

The corridor kept slanting downwards, and finally he walked around a corner and found himself standing in front of several cells, all crammed with people. His heart leaped-he had been worried that Renna had taken a wrong turn or something, but it appeared her directions were spot-on.

"Who are you?" A man demanded, pressing himself up against the bars of his cell to get a better look at Link.

Link started forward, and was about to answer the man when he felt a familiar pull. He stopped, and, looking to his left, noticed that there was an open doorway there that led into a small room.

He turned and walked into the room, ignoring the startled cry of the man in the cell.

Inside the room, which he recognized immediately to be some sort of torture chamber, a vertical rack stood in the middle of the floor.

On the rack, a skinny girl hung vertically, held up by strong ropes which bound her wrists and ankles. Her hair was matted, and hung over her eyes, and she was dressed only in rags which revealed her bare legs and mid-section, which were covered in cuts and gashes. Dried blood clung to her cheeks and body.

The girl looked up slowly as she became aware of his presence.  
"Sir…" the girl croaked weakly, her voice dry. "Help me…"

Link moved forward with the intention of cutting the girl free, but the girl's eyes went to his sword, and before he could reach her she spoke up again.

"Please…kill me." The girl pleaded.

He paused before her, wondering if he had heard her right.

"Kill me." The teenage girl repeated. "Before they come back and start their tests again. I am close to death anyway…so please, kind sir…"

Link could see that the girl did indeed look on the verge of dying. He doubted if he could get her out of the castle alive.

The girl closed her brown eyes, waiting for Link to strike, and he studied her face thoughtfully.

His sword swept forward, and the girl gasped as it cut through not her skin, but one of the ropes supporting her arm. Her left arm dropped to her side, and her eyes flew open.

"What are you doing?" She snapped at him. "It's over for me."

Link shook his head grimly. "No, Renna." He said. "I recognize you."

The girl lowered her head. When she looked up, her face was still pained and drawn, but she managed to smile slightly.

"I'm impressed. I don't look that much like my spirit form, you know." She said softly.

Link looked at Renna, a hundred questions gathering in his head and feeling lost and muddled.

"What's going on?" He asked, his voice tinged with anger.

Renna sighed, using her one free hand to brush her hair away from her face. "I lied to you, Link. Not about everything, but about a lot. I lied to you about being a ghost. I'm not dead. Well, not _yet_, anyway."

Link rubbed his forehead tiredly. "How can you not be a ghost? You had no body…you could float through walls. No-one could see you!" He cried, his confusion absolute.

Renna took a deep breath. "My whole life, I felt different. Starting from when I was five years old, weird things started to happen around me. I began to have out-of-body experiences, where I would suddenly find myself floating over my own body as I slept. When this happened, no-one could see me…unless I wanted them to."

Link listened without saying a word, hoping to himself that Renna had a good explanation for lying to him.

"I began to experiment by traveling further and further away from my body, and soon I realized that I could walk right through walls, but at the same time I could still have an impact on physical objects around me. Some people I tried to touch while in my spirit form would suddenly jump as if I jolted them, and I soon found out that I could give off a slight, lightning-like shock if I wanted to. I used this power one day to bring a dead bird back to life." She went on.

"Then, one day my powers just left me, and I grew up relatively normal. My mum died, but I somehow got past that. And then, Ganondorf's men kidnapped me. I was brought before a witch in the castle, and she told the guards that I had a special power within me. Ever since then, they have been performing tests on me, to try and draw out these supposed powers. For months, nothing happened. I didn't even really think that I still had any powers, and had just imagined the whole thing as a little kid." Renna said, sighing, her face still pained.

"During one of their torture sessions, however, the pain became too great. I felt myself starting to pass out, and then all of a sudden I was above my body, and the pain dimmed. I fled the castle, reveling in my new-found freedom. But it was also hard keeping myself in my spirit body, especially when they began to torture my physical body in more painful ways. The pain would act as an anchor to my real body, and I would sometimes have to return to my body."

Link was beginning to understand. "So, when your body started to flicker, that was because you were being tortured?" He guessed. "And what about when we left the Temple of Time? You started screaming in pain, and you said that you were reliving how you died. When really-"  
"I was being tortured right there and then." Renna finished for him.

Link shook his head. "But…why the act? Why did you pretend that you were already dead?"

She bowed her head. "Believe it or not, I wanted to protect you and everyone in the town. Before I saw you in the graveyard, I had tried speaking to the other townspeople, to warn them away from the castle, because I knew any rescue attempt would be futile. But no-one could see me! So, when I found out that you could see me, I decided then and there to pretend to be dead, as a way to make everyone leave the town. Not only that, but I really wanted to speak to my father, and I knew how much he believed in the supernatural."  
"And why did you suddenly vanish on me back there?" Link asked.

"Because I was getting too close to my physical body. If I get too close, I remerge with it." She said.  
She looked up at Link, suddenly angry. "But you didn't listen to me when I warned you about coming here! Ganondorf's security is so tight that you'll never get back out, especially with a bunch of half-dead prisoners with you. That's why I wanted you to kill me-I'm ready to die now. There's no way I have the strength to make it out of here."

Unable to help himself, Link started to laugh. "What, and you expect me to kill you now, or just leave you here? I told you just before that I wished that you weren't dead, and now it appears that you aren't."

His sword slashing through the air, he cut through the remaining three ropes that bound her, and Renna fell forward with a cry into his arms.

"Stop!" She panted. "I won't even be able to walk! You idiot…" Her last words were whispered into his shoulder, her voice tinged with frustration but also fondness.

Link felt a sense of renewed strength and warmth flow through him. Someone he had thought was dead and gone was now alive, and he knew he would either fight his way out of the castle, or did doing so.

"We're getting out of here." He told Renna.

* * *

**Okay, so much to get through.  
Firstly, Renna's not dead? Yeah, she's alive. And Rupert is her father…I want to say though that I had always planned for Renna to be alive-if you look back at the previous chapters, you'll be able to understand Renna a lot better now, hopefully.  
Anyway, I didn't just decide this at the last minute. "Oh, Renna's such a cool character, too bad she's dead…wait! I'll just make it so she's alive somehow!" Hehe, no, that's definitely not what I did. I tried to explain things as well as I could at the end, but there's probably some stuff I left out that will be included in the next chapter.**

**I'm glad a few of you really wanted Scray to live-I had planned for him to survive getting shot by Dark Link (I mean, it was a pretty cheap thing to do…), so that's good.**

**Oh, and you probably noticed that I decided to change Dark Link's appearance-thanks Lao Who Mai for bringing that to my attention! Because I've only ever seen Dark Link in the Ocarina of Time, and he was just identical to Link, but black all over. When you said that he was meant to have black hair and red eyes I was all "huh? Say what?" Then I checked around for some pictures of Dark Link, and a lot of them had him with black hair and red eyes, so I decided that it was probably a better look for him, and changed it (sneakily) at the start of this chapter. **

Yumi dolly, I think you're right when you said that Malon's meant to have blue eyes. When I first started the story, I tried to find out what colour her eyes were meant to be, and the first site I checked said brown. So, I used that. Later I realized that in the game she actually had blue eyes, so whoops. That's a mistake, then. At some point, I will go back, edit all the previous chapters, and fix a lot of mistakes like that. In future chapters, Malon will have blue eyes.

**Lt. Doom, I will probably use all the magic you mentioned in your review sometime later in the story, or if not I will use it in a different story in the future.**

**And hey, the story's now on a whopping 87 reviews! That's pretty close to 100 reviews, which would be a huge milestone for me. So yeah, if you guys and gals could keep reviewing that would be great! Oh, and looking back at all the reviews for all the chapters, for some reason chapter 4 is only on 4 reviews, while all the other chapters have anywhere from 6, up to 17 reviews. Huh? That's a bit odd. So it would be awesome if, for those of you who have read chapter 4 (all the way back then), but who haven't reviewed it, to go back and leave one. Oh, but if you do, try not to put any spoilers from later chapters in there. Thanks…**

**Finally, Link's Trials will be coming to an end kind of soon. I've written like 56,000 words for this story, which seems like a lot to me. I'm not saying it'll end right away, because there's still so much I have to write about (and Link and Malon haven't even had time together for ages!), but maybe in around…hmm, another 5 chapters or something, I'll have to end it. It depends though!**

**And that's it. Sorry for yakking on. To be honest I'm a bit worried about your reactions to the changes I've made-some of you might hate the fact that Renna is not actually a ghost, which was kind of a cool thing. But it's not like she's a normal human or anything either, so…yah. And Dark Link shall return, of course. Duh. Leave a review, and see you next chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12

**What's this? An actual update? Wow. Heh.**

**Seriously, it's been several months since I updated this-or any-story. The reason? I was busy with uni, mostly, and had a lack of motivation to write. **

**But that's behind me now, so I will actually start to update more now! **

**This chapter is a weird one simply because I started it way back after I finished chapter 11, wrote 2000 words of it, and then stopped. Now, months later, I've finished it. I hope it's up to the standards of the other chapters. **

**Oh, and when I last updated, at the end of chapter 11, I said that it's awesome that I have 87 reviews, which is almost 100 reviews. And now I've somehow reached 125 reviews! So I'd just like to think everyone who reads this story, and those who have left all the great reviews! I would never have thought that I would get more then 100 review for _anything, _so thanks so much. **

**I hope people are still interesting in the story to keep reading, and I'll see you after the chapter ends...  
Oh, there's one "bad" word in this story, but it's nothing major, and it's a tad violent at parts...so, same as usual, then.

* * *

**

As Link went back into the large room which contained the holding cells, the prisoners behind the bars, upon seeing the girl in his arms, leaped up and began shouting at him desperately to free them.

"You there!" A middle-aged man with a receding hair-line shouted at him excitedly, shoving his way past the other prisoners in the cell to allow him to be seen. "I know you!"

Link squinted at the man and moved in front of the cell, Renna still in his arms. The man looked familiar to him, and he tried to work out where he knew him from…and then it hit him: this was the man he had seen when he had first been on his way to the graveyard, who had been hiding out in the ruined town with his daughter.

"What are you doing here?" Link asked him, somewhat shocked. "When I last left you, you were on your way to the safe houses, weren't you?"

The man nodded, gripping the bars with one hand. "We were trying to get there through the city, when my daughter Sharla and I were caught by one of Ganondorf's men, who was looting the town. I put up a struggle, but he was too strong and threatened to kill my daughter, so I was forced to surrender. We've been in here since yesterday."

"Where's your daughter then?" Link asked him, looking around the cell.

"I'm here," came a female voice, and a young woman with dirty-blonde hair stepped forward.

"You have to get us out of here!" Her father said, and at his words the other villagers in the prison all began speaking up in pleading voices, until Link was forced to raise a hand for silence.

"That's what I'm here to do. Except I can't exactly just wrench open these doors; I need the keys. Does anyone know where they're kept?" He asked, glancing from face to face.

The prisoners were silent, and then another man spoke up. "The jailor always has the keys with him at all times. He's a monster of a man though, so there's no way that you'd be able to get the keys off of him without getting caught and thrown in here with us, kid."

"Don't you know who you're talking to?" Sharla's father scolded the man. "This isn't any ordinary teenager. He's Link, the savior of Hyrule!"

The prisoners all began muttering in awe and surprise, and Link winced inwardly as he heard a young girl exclaim, "But mummy, I thought Link always wore green?"

But the man still looked doubtful. "I don't mean any disrespect to him or you, Prelin," he said, looking at Sharla's father, "but you haven't seen the jailor yet. He could break Link in two!"

"I think he's right, Link." Renna muttered weakly while the prisoners continued to argue about what was the safest course of action amongst themselves. "You might be a good fighter, but you wouldn't stand much of a chance."

"So what can we do, then?" Link asked softly, at the same time reflecting to himself that it would have been a good idea to have thought the escape plan through more.

Renna sighed. "I don't know. This close to my real body, I won't be able to project my spirit to walk anyone through the bars or anything. The only thing I can do right now is scout ahead through the castle for you."

Link thought for several seconds. "If we both walk away from the cells and into another part of the castle, wouldn't you be able to come back to this area in your spirit form and walk the prisoners through the bars that way?" He asked her.

The girl wrinkled her nose. "Yes, but I would have to take them through one at a time, which would take too long. The jailor and the other guards check this room regularly, so we wouldn't want them walking in while only half the prisoners are out and then raising the alarm, which would bring the whole castle running." She sighed once more. "The guards are probably going to check the cells soon anyway, so I don't know what we should do. I told you this was a bad idea! I wouldn't even have brought you in here if you hadn't made me promise to."

Link still wasn't sure how he could free the prisoners, but one thing he _was _sure about was that he and Renna shouldn't remain in the room for much longer. He acted quickly.

"I'll be back soon!" He told the still bickering prisoners, and ignored their cries of concern as he turned and hurried out of the dungeon's room with Renna still in his arms. He sprinted around a corner and down the long corridor that led away from the dungeon. Renna felt light in his arms, much lighter than a normal teenage girl should be.

He was half-way down the dark corridor when he saw a door open up ahead, and he had no choice but to veer to his left and into a dark alcove which was set into the corridor. He backed himself up against the wall as the sound of heavy footsteps approaching came to his ears, and he prayed that whoever was walking down the hallway would not look into the alcove as they passed.

He indicated unnecessarily to Renna to be quiet, and the two of them held their breath as the footsteps neared.

Two soldiers marched into Link's field of vision, one of them coming dangerously close to their hiding spot, and then they were passed them and walking further down the corridor, heading towards the dungeon.

"Link," Renna hissed fiercely once the two soldiers were well out of ear-shot, "they're going to discover that I've escaped!"

Link closed his eyes tight, bitterly reflecting that nothing could ever be easy for him. But this time he didn't need much time at all to think of what he must do.  
He knelt and set Renna down on the floor against the wall of the alcove.

"What are you doing?" The girl demanded worriedly, and when he didn't respond she became even more upset. "Link, don't go after those soldiers! You'll be caught, and I won't be able to do anything to help you!"

"You've done enough," Link said, sighing tiredly. He could see that they weren't going to get out of the castle by sneaking around and hoping for the best; instead he would have to fight his way out...and hope for the best. Almost the same idiotic plan, but with perhaps slightly better odds.

He only had his sword and shield with him, but he supposed that they would have to do. He couldn't afford to make that much noise anyway.

"To be honest Renna, I don't think we're going to make it out of this. But I sort of knew that coming in here. I needed to try though. I've been at the end of my rope for a while now, and have made so many dumb mistakes, so maybe this is the last mistake I'll make." He whispered.

"What are you saying? That you're giving up? And this coming from the guy that convinced me to stay alive…" Renna muttered, staring up at him from the floor.

Link managed a weak smile. "I didn't say that I'm giving up. Far from it. I'm just being…realistic, that's all. Hell, I'm only a teenager, no matter what anyone thinks."

He looked down the corridor towards the soldier's backs, knowing that he was waiting too long, and that soon the soldiers would enter the dungeon and discover Renna's disappearance.

"I guess I just want to say goodbye, in case this doesn't work out." He said quickly, turning back to Renna. "And I wish we could have met under happier circumstances."

Renna wiped away a tear. "Before you go, I have something to tell you as well." She said, and beckoned him closer.

He knelt quickly beside her, wondering to himself what other revelation she might reveal to him, at the same time feeling the urgency of his need to chase after the soldiers.

Renna looked suddenly faint and weak, and she grabbed his left arm for support, or so Link thought. She leaned forward, pulling him closer to her, and her lips sought his. Link let the kiss happen, leaning against her body and enjoying the feel of her bare mid-section against his own, for his shirt had ridden up in the front.

Seconds passed, until Link pulled away breathlessly from Renna, his face flushed.

Later, he reflected that the intensity of the kiss they had shared had come partly from the fact that both of them feared that they were close to death. And he knew for a fact that he always felt the most alive the closer to death he was.

Renna looked embarrassed, but her face glowed with happiness. "Sorry…" she apologized needlessly, for they both knew that what had happened had been no accident, and that there was nothing to apologize for. "I guess that's one thing I couldn't do with my spirit body, huh? You need to go now though. Hurry!"

Link nodded wordlessly and turned and padded silently down the corridor after the soldiers, his head still spinning from what had just happened.

* * *

"...You know what I think, anyway. Everyone knows that that teenage girl has no powers! It's been months now, and have we seen anything conclusive from her? Hell no. Eliza probably got it wrong. How could she tell that the girl had powers anyway? She might even have been just yanking Ganondorf's chain!" The soldier rattled on, walking next to his comrade down the corridor. He hated the routine job of checking on the prisoners, so he liked debating news-worthy topics with his friend to pass the time.

The other soldier shook his head. "Eliza's not the type to mess with Ganondorf. Everyone else maybe, but not Ganondorf! But speaking of Eliza, where has that man-eater of a witch gotten to, anyway? I haven't seen her around the castle for weeks now."

The first soldier, who was a lot smaller than his friend, scoffed. "I don't know where she's gone, but I can't say that I'm not glad to have some peace from her! She's such an ice queen, and most of the men can't stand her. But enough about her. Have you heard that they've decided to release all of the Redead tonight?" He asked.

"What, all of them?" His companion said, sounding shocked.

"Yep. Ganondorf's tired of the resistance group that's still in the town, so he's decided to get rid of them tonight. Oh, and Link's been spotted in the town. Not only that, but Dark Link has been released, so you know that things are getting pretty hectic!" The smaller soldier chortled with delight.

His companion didn't reply, but instead seemed to pause in his step, so that the smaller soldier walked forward several paces ahead of his companion.

If the small soldier had strained his ears, he might have caught the surprised, guttural choke of his companion as the hilt of a sword was butted into his temple.

The small soldier stopped walking and turned around, idly wondering why his comrade had stopped in his step. To his surprise, he spotted the soldier lying prone on the ground, but before he could react any further, a dark shape darted in front of him, and he felt a heavy object slam against his face, as if a round plank of wood had been hurled at him. He warbled incoherently, swayed on his feet, and blacked out.

* * *

Link quickly checked that both of the soldiers lying on the ground were unconscious, his heart beating hard in his chest. He looked around him and saw that there were no rooms near-by in which he could hide the bodies, and the alcove which he had left was too far down the corridor to drag the bodies too, especially seeing as it wouldn't make much of a hiding place anyway. So soon more soldiers would come, notice the bodies, and raise the alarm. He didn't have much time. The prisoners needed to be released, and as soon as possible. He also felt worried by the words of the soldiers he had over-heard while sneaking behind them; Ganondorf planned to get rid of the Resistance tonight. He needed to get out of the castle and warn the townspeople.

He ran back to the dungeon, where the prisoners all began to demand what was going on. He raised a hand for silence, looked a prisoner right in the eye-the man who had been so skeptical before-and asked a question.

"Where is the jailor's room?"

* * *

The jailor's room, thankfully, wasn't far away from the dungeon with the cells. Link found the door described to him by the prisoner easily, and paused in front of it, weighing his options.

Supposing the jailor was in the room and just happened to be asleep, he might be able to sneak in and stealthily nab the keys from him. But what were the odds of that?

He could kick down the door open and charge in, he supposed, but that might be like a fly charging a Goron. He shook himself, knowing that he didn't have time to waste.

Stretching his arms and back muscles in preparation for combat, he simply pushed the door open quietly and entered the room.

Several lanterns were swinging on the walls around the room, illuminating the surroundings. He spotted implements of torture scattered on benches and on the floor, and a shabby bed lay in one corner. The room itself was larger than a normal room would be, and a large fireplace sat against the opposite wall, lending some warmth to the cold stones of the castle.

Link hesitated in the doorway as he spotted the only occupant of the room; a kneeling figure by the fire who was facing away from him and seemed to be sharpening an instrument on a grindstone. He couldn't tell if the person was a man or a woman, but he or she looked to be clad in a full suit of armor. It had to be the jailor.

Unsheathing his sword silently, he padded carefully across the room towards the figure, hoping that he could render the jailor unconscious before he was spotted, like he had done to the two guards in the hallway.

Before he could reach the jailor, a loud click sounded behind Link, and he whirled around, startled, to see that the door had closed by itself. In his haste to get to the jailor, he had left the door slightly open!

A loud grunt of surprise came from the figure, and Link turned back in time to see the chunk of armor unfolding itself as the person stood up, growing taller and taller. As the jailor turned around, Link could only stare up in alarm at the figure who towered above him, almost double his height.

The jailor wore a helmet with the visor down, covering his face completely, but Link could still feel his eyes (and he could see now that the jailor was a man) sweeping over him.

A cry of surprise issued forth from the helmet, as Link backed away a few steps.

"You!" The jailor growled, his voice deep. "What are you doing here?"

Link resisted saying something sarcastic, and instead pointed his sword at the jailor, indicating the set of keys he could see hanging from his belt.

"I want those keys. Now." He said, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

The jailor started to laugh loudly, and, bending, he scooped up a heavy-looking ball-and-chain from the floor next to him. The ball was iron, and covered with sharp spikes.

"Then come and get 'em. I'm going to enjoy torturing the famous Link for days and days, before I hand you over to Ganondorf and get a big reward," the jailor said gleefully, and to Link's horror he began to swing the ball around his head in faster and wider circles, making a _whooshing _sound every time it passed in front of Link.

Link cried out and hurriedly back-stepped away, seeking to put some room between him and the whirling ball of destruction, but the jailor simply advanced on him, giving Link no extra room to maneuver.

He knew he had to act, before he was pinned by the jailor and smashed up by the ball-and-chain. Timing the passing of the ball carefully, he waited until it had passed him and was coming around again, and then sprang forward, rolling past the ball and under the chain, and, coming up on his feet, slashed out viciously with the Master Sword at the jailor's mid-section.

But, while the sword made a huge dent in the armor of the jailor, it didn't pierce the skin. The jailor grunted, and the iron ball fell to the floor with a huge clang as he stopped swinging it around.

Link was about to duck away again when one of the jailor's beefy hands caught him around the throat, and he was lifted off the floor to face the helmet of the jailor.  
"Bad. Mistake." The jailor hissed, and the hand around Link's throat began to clench, cutting off all oxygen.

His throat burning and his vision fading, Link managed to swing his arm around to catch the jailor a glancing blow on the side of his helmet. The attack had been too weak to cause any damage, but he had succeeded in knocking the helmet out of place and to the left, which meant that the jailor's vision was obscured.

The jailor clutched at his helmet with an annoyed cry with one hand, and thankfully his grip around Link's neck began to ease. Link started to struggle to get free, but before he could get away, the jailor twisted his body and then threw him head-first towards one of the walls of the room.

Link cried out as the wall got closer, and clutched his shield in front of his body, ready for impact. Gravity took hold of him before he reached the wall however, and he started to fall...right towards a table covered with sharp and lethal instruments of torture.

He could do nothing to prevent the collision, and his body hit the table with a crunch. What little air Link had left in his lungs left his body, and he felt the biting, searing pain as serrated tools cut into his forearms, legs, and parts of his body. Nothing impaled his chest or head though, and he realized that he was saved from what would have surely been a painful death by the fact that he had also landed on his shield, which lay mangled beneath him, stuck to the table by way of all the sharp tools it had landed on.

He quickly rolled off the table and hit the floor with a thud, blood from all his cuts staining the edge of the table and the floor. He looked up weakly from the floor to see that the jailor was struggling to get his helmet placed properly on his head.

"You still, alive, boy?" The man roared mockingly. "You better hope for your sake that you aren't, unless you want a lot more pain!"  
Link didn't answer. His body hurt all over, and he knew that another frontal assault on his part would be useless, even if the jailor was now almost sightless.

He stood up shakily, horrified to find that his legs felt rubbery and weak. In this condition he would not be able to dodge the jailor at all.

With a roar of frustration, the jailor snapped the helmet to the right, centering it more or less back on the front of his face. He looked over at Link, bleeding freely from his numerous cuts, and then at the table which had his splintered and ruined shield still stuck to it.

The jailor chuckled. "Boy, you got lucky! Or should I say un-lucky?" And with that, he picked up the ball-and-chain once more, and began twirling it around his head again.

Link backed away, panicked, his mind desperately seeking a way to defeat the jailor.

_The man's a fortress! _He thought wildly. With his full body armor even the Master Sword would be hard pressed to cut through it, and he couldn't even get close to the jailor safely in order to attack him!

The iron ball was swinging around right in front of him now, and he was backed in a corner. Glancing to his left, he noticed a ceramic pot sitting on the ground, so he picked it up out of desperation.

As the ball swung toward him again and the jailor advanced, he lifted the pot above his head and hurled it toward the jailor. It by-passed the chain and smashed into the front of his helmet, the shards of the pot flying everywhere.

The jailor screamed and clutched his head again, and the ball fell to the floor. Seeing his chance, Link ran at the jailor, swinging his sword around to attack the front of the helmet.

But the jailor must have heard his footsteps as he approached, because he swatted Link away with an open-handed strike to the side of his neck.

Caught off balance, Link stumbled past the jailor and fell to the floor behind him, his breathing even more labored because of the additional blow to his neck.

"Ha, it will take a lot more than a cheap pot to hurt me, boy!" The jailor boomed, standing up straight once more and turning to face Link, who was coming to his feet.

Link should have been feeling nothing but despair, but instead he felt a renewed sense of hope, for when the jailor had been turned away from him, he had seen that the back of his helmet had ridden up on his neck, leaving a small area of skin uncovered. Whether it had happened because of Link's first attack on the jailor's helmet with his sword, or because of the pot he had thrown he didn't know, but at least now he had an opening.

The jailor started to twirl the ball-and-chain again, and Link's heart sank. He could see that there was no way he would be able to get behind him safely to deliver the attack; not with that weapon constantly being flung around the room.

He looked around him for anything he could use against the jailor, but came up empty. He did however see that the door to the room was now behind him, and that gave him an idea.

Turning around, he ran over to the door, and pulled it open.

"Huh?" The jailor cried. "What are you doing?"  
Link turned back to the jailor and flashed him a cheeky grin. "What does it look like? I'm running away. I may not be able to beat you, but at least you won't catch me either."

With that he ran out of the room, leaving the jailor shouting after him.  
"Coward! Come back and fight like a man! Don't think you're safe from me in this castle!" The jailor screamed, and Link heard his heavy footsteps pounding the ground as he gave chase.

Link hadn't run far, and was waiting for the enraged jailor several meters down the hallway.

The jailor skidded to a halt, the ball-and-chain ready in his hand.

"What? Decided to stay and fight after all, have you?" The jailor sniggered.

Link shrugged, his face calm. "Maybe. But why did you bring that weapon with you? You're not going to be able to use it here."

The jailor stared at the weapon in his hand, and then at the walls of the corridor to the left and right of him.

Link grinned. "It's far too narrow in here for you to swing that around. That's a pity."

Link was enjoying the tactical edge he had gained, but he also wanted to defeat the jailor as quickly as possible, for blood still streamed down his arms and legs, and he was growing quite weak.

The jailor dropped the ball-and-chain to the ground, and Link silently sighed with relief.

"You've just made this harder for yourself," the jailor warned, and Link watched, puzzled, as he reached behind his back and pulled out two black pieces of something, fitting them together with a snap.

As the jailor pointed the object at Link, he felt his heart jump to his throat as he realised that the jailor now had a _crossbow. _It must have been slung across his belt in two pieces, and in the frantic fight before-hand Link hadn't noticed it.

Link also realized that he had positioned himself in a narrow corridor, in front of a man who had a ranged weapon. He was a sitting duck.

He did the only thing that was available to him; he turned and ran, turning around a bend in the corridor as two crossbow bolts thudded into the wall next to him, missing him by inches.

_I thought I was being so clever, getting rid of his weapon like that, _he groaned to himself as he ran down the corridor, _but now I'm being chased by a helmet-clad maniac with a crossbow. Fantastic._

He rounded another bend, and another idea hit him. The corridors were dark, and the jailor could only really see directly in front of him because of his helmet, he realized. The section of the corridor he was now in was also more narrow then the rest, so, moving as quickly as he could, he stretched his arms out so that he touched both walls of the corridor, and began to climb vertically up the wall, using his feet for further support. What made climbing the walls harder was the fact that he had to hold the Master Sword in one hand against the wall as he climbed.

His body was weak, and he could hear the jailor getting closer; soon he would come around the corner, spot him half-way up the wall, and shoot him dead. He tried to climb faster, sweat dripping down his face.

"You're dead, boy!" He suddenly heard the jailor yell. He wasn't far enough up the wall yet, and he must have been spotted. He braced himself for the crossbow bolt.

But instead the jailor rounded the corner and ran straight underneath him, the top of his helmet missing Link's leg by centimeters. Had the jailor not been wearing the helmet, he would have surely spotted Link, but as it was the helmet blocked the jailor's vision enough to hide him.

Link released his grip on the wall as the jailor passed under him, and he fell to the floor, which was a couple of meters below him, causing pain to shoot up his legs as he hit the bottom.

Gritting his teeth and recovering from the impact, he slashed out at the exposed section of the jailor's neck from behind him, the tip of the Master Sword catching him mere moments before he would have been out of reach.

Blood spurted from the wound, and the jailor's legs seemed to crumble under him, sending his body crashing to the floor, the noise of the armor hitting the ground reverberating off the walls of the corridor. The helmet rolled away from the rest of the body, and Link realized with a shock that he had be-headed the man. Not a sound had escaped the jailor's lips before he died.

Link stared down at the dead body, panting and shaking slightly from exhaustion. At first, he experienced a wave of relief; he was safe now. Well, _safer_. The jailor would have tortured and killed him, and then he would have found and perhaps killed Renna as well.

But then the guilt and disbelief set in. He had killed a human being, taken away someone's very life. And it wasn't the first time.  
He experienced a flash of a memory; the witch Eliza, pinned to a tree, her eyes blank and dull, run through by his sword. He stood near-by, glaring with hatred at the dead witch, Malon by his side.  
He blinked his eyes, becoming aware of his surroundings again-he was in the corridor of the dungeon of the castle. The memory-or vision-or whatever it was, had seemed so real that it had almost been like being back there.

He tried to shake himself. This wasn't the time for feelings of guilt and memories; he had to free the prisoners, and then somehow get everyone out of the castle.

Kneeling by the body of the jailor, he hurriedly unhooked the set of keys from his belt, trying not to look at the headless body or at the pool of blood that was spreading across the floor.

The keys now in his possession, he back-tracked through the maze of corridors until he reached the alcove where he had left Renna, all the while hoping that she was still safe.

He found Renna slumped on the floor, and at first he feared that she had somehow gotten hurt, as she wasn't moving much.

She looked up as he approached however, and, upon seeing his bloody and scratched body, gasped.  
"Thank god you're alive, Link. You've been ages! I was beginning to think that you had...but never mind. What happened to you though? Are you in much pain?" She said breathlessly, not allowing him to get a word in.

"I went to see the jailor," he explained, and Renna raised a hand to her mouth in horror. "We didn't exactly see eye to eye."  
He delved into his pocket and brought out the set of keys, dangling them in front of her. "But I got these at least."

"What happened to the jailor?" Renna asked quietly.

"Huh?" Link said, taken aback. He felt a pang of unexpected anger. Why was she asking him what had happened to the jailor? It was obvious, wasn't it? Did she want to force him to say that he had killed him?  
"He's dead," Link snapped, feeling angry now at both Renna and himself.

Renna bowed her head, and Link thought that she must find the idea of him killing someone repulsive. _She probably regrets kissing me, _he thought nastily to himself. _And I can't blame her. _

She raised her head suddenly, and nodded decisively. "Good." She said, her voice cold.

"What?" Link could only stammer again.

"You can't imagine what that bastard did to prisoners...and to me. He reveled in torture and suffering. His death makes the world a better place, as cold as that might sound. So I'm glad you killed him." She spoke, her voice shaking with emotion.

She stood up, putting an arm around Link's shoulders to support both herself and him at the same time.

"Anyway, we need to quickly free those prisoners and get out of here, right? While you were gone I managed to explore around a bit more, and I think I've found a way out. On the other side of this basement there's a wall that opens to the outside of the castle. It can only be opened from inside though, so it's one-way. But that beats battling our way out through the castle itself, right?" She asked, smiling at him.

"This is where I should say something witty like 'you just spoiled all my fun', but honestly I'm nearly dead on my feet. So yeah, let's sneak out the back way like mice before it's too late." Link said, wincing at the pain from his wounds.

They started walking towards the prison area, and Link remembered what he had over-heard from the guards.  
"Renna, we need to get back to the townspeople to warn them. I heard from those guards that they're planning to release all of the Redead on the Resistance tonight to put an end to them for good." He said gravely.

Renna's face turned more ashen. "My father..." she whispered.

Link nodded. "I really don't want to see any more death while I'm here. So let's hurry."

* * *

He would never forget the look on the prisoners faces when he re-entered the prison with Renna and the keys to the cells. A few of the men just stared stupidly at the keys in his hands disbelievingly, while the other prisoners all cheered loudly, until Link reminded them that they weren't out of the castle yet, and he didn't want anybody hearing the noise.

He unlocked the cells and the prisoners all streamed out, now making less noise and looking scared yet hopeful.

Prelin clapped a hand on Link's shoulder and beamed at him. "Somehow I knew you could do it. Thank you Link."  
Link could only nod, because a man and a woman, both with brown hair, approached him and starting asking questions.

"Excuse me, but do you know if our son's okay?" The woman asked him tearfully, anxiously wringing her hands together.

"Well I just got here recently, so I don't know everyone, but what's his name?" Link asked.

"It's Zane." The father spoke up. "We've been locked up here for so long, and have had no news from the outside, so we have no idea if he's even okay."  
"Oh, Zane? He's fine." Link said, nodding as he remembered the young boy who had first fetched him outside Lon Lon Ranch and told him about the trouble in Hyrule Castle Town. He also remembered how Zane told him about his parents being captured, so he felt glad that they were okay. Well, for now, anyway. If he could get everyone out safely.

"Oh thank you," Zane's mother said, the relief showing in her face.

"Are we ready to go, Link?" Renna asked him.

Link nodded. "Yes. Let's get the heck out of here."

* * *

It actually took about two hours for Link and Renna to guide all the prisoners to the secret exit of the castle. The basement was maze-like, and the company kept having to halt and let Renna scout ahead with her spirit form, in case they ran into any guards. On several occasions they all had to duck into side rooms and hide for ages, as guards swept up and down the corridors. Near the end of their journey Link figured that someone must have found one of the three bodies-two unconscious, one dead-that he had left, for the number of guards hurrying about the place increased dramatically, and on a couple of occasions they were almost caught.  
In fact, a guard did spot the group just before they reached the room with the secret exit, but before the man could scurry off and warn his comrades, Link caught up to the retreating man and dealt him a blow to the head, rendering him unconscious. He was getting sick of knocking people out.

Finally they arrived at the room, and Renna pulled a candelabrum that was stuck to the wall, which caused a section of wall to slide open, allowing sun-light to spill into the room from outside.  
Link, Renna and the prisoners all quickly filed outside, where they were met with stinging rain and wind. Link felt he couldn't really complain however, as he pushed the wall back shut behind him. They had escaped from the castle, and now, unless something else went wrong, they could get everyone away from the town. He glanced up at the sky, relieved to see that they still had several hours before it was night. Plenty of time to get out of the city before Ganondorf's men released all the Redead on the Resistance. He nodded at Renna, and they led the prisoners away from the castle quickly, not wanting to linger so close to danger.

* * *

The figure watched the Hero of Time lead the prisoners away from the castle from the window of one of the towers of the castle in stunned silence.

_So Link really had broken into the castle? _The figure had heard about the bodies that were found in the dungeon, and the escaped prisoners, but had refused to believe the rumors that they had been freed by Link. Because it was impossible, wasn't it? No-one could get past the castle's defenses. But evidently they could, and had.

But no matter.

A guard entered the room behind the figure, and saluted.

"Um...we still haven't found the prisoners, but..." the guard started, but was silenced.

"You won't find them in the castle. Link freed them all." The figure sighed.

"What? Are you sure-"

"Do _not _question me! Of course I am sure. Now we have to speed things up a bit: release the Redead now. I will lead them against the Resistance myself."

"Of course. I...I don't mean to question you again, but are you sure you don't want to wait until night, as was planned? The Redead are stronger at night..."  
"No, we need to attack right now, or else they will get away, you idiot." The figure snapped, and the guard saluted and hurried off.

The figure turned back to the window, pulling a cape over its shoulders and securing it in the front with a brooch.

"You will pay for what you did to me, Link. Today, Hyrule Castle Town burns, and you will finally die." The figure whispered to the darkness of the room.

* * *

Link hurried towards the town with the prisoners, the wounds in his legs causing him to hobble slightly.

_When this is over, I'm going to sleep for days, _he told himself grudgingly.

Suddenly from behind the group and all around them came a series of haunting, low cries, and for a moment Link found himself back in the forest with Epona as the wolves circled him, ready for the kill. He had to escape; had to get away from the wolves and save Malon because they would go after her next, and-  
Suddenly he realized that Renna was shaking him, her eyes wide and fearful. "Redead! I thought you said that they were planning on attacking tonight Link!"

"Huh?" He muttered, staring at her. Hadn't he just been back with the wolves just then? He must have slipped into a day-dream or something.

"Link? Answer me..." Renna said.

He shook his head helplessly, remembering her question. "They must be releasing them early because we freed all the prisoners. This is really not good..."

_But I should have seen this coming, _he told himself. _What did I expect? Ganondorf and his men to just sit on their butts while the prisoners and all the townsfolk escape from the town? _

He turned to Renna. "You need to lead all these people to where the Resistance is, and warn them what's coming. Then make preparations to leave immediately."

Renna looked confused. "Then what will you be doing?"

"I can't move fast enough to keep up with the group, so I'll make my way back slowly, while keeping an eye on the situation. Don't worry, they're just Redead; it's not like they'll over-take me or anything." He joked weakly.

Renna looked ready to argue, but then seemed to change her mind. She hugged him tightly, whispered "be careful!", and then gathered the group together and led them towards the town.

Link watched the group go and then began making his way to the town as well, albeit at a much slower pace. He was beginning to suspect that the cuts on his legs were deeper than he had first thought, and he had lost a lot of blood. He felt awful, weak and light-headed. And why did he keep thinking about the past, at a time like this? He was probably becoming delirious, he feared.

He reached the out-skirts of the town, walking now amongst the buildings as fast as he could. He was in no condition to battle Redead, after all. The rain fell from the sky, drenching him, and he wondered why it had been raining for so long-ever since he got to Hyrule Castle Town, in fact.

"Link! Link!" He looked up as he heard his own name being called, and his mouth fell open in surprise.

_Am I seeing things now? _He thought, as a girl splashed her way through the mud and rain towards him, her red hair flying behind her.

Malon almost bowled him over as she threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly and joyously.

"What are you...but...I thought..." Link stammered, feeling more light-headed then ever. He hugged her back, realizing with a shock that she was crying.

"Malon? Did something happen?" He asked, confused.

She raised her head from his shoulder and looked at him tearfully. "Link, the farm...Ganondorf's men were there, and..." her voice trailed off.

"What?! What happened?" Link demanded, clutching at her shoulders. His heart hammered in his chest.

"So much happened, Link. I can't talk now, but I escaped and came to find you, because...well, I was worried, mainly. But we have to go now, Link. We have to get out of here! I need to tell you something..." She stammered, her eyes wide.

_I should never have left her like that, _Link thought to himself. _I could have at least gone into the farm with her, to check if things were okay. But I needed to go quickly, didn't I? Zane came and said it was an emergency, so I had to-_

"Link! Snap out of it!" Malon said, and Link realised he had zoned out once again. He blinked his eyes.

"Sorry, Malon. I'm...kind of in a bad shape at the moment, as you can see. What do you have to tell me?" He asked.

She took a deep breath. "Something's wrong here, Link. Don't ask me how it's possible, but...well, when I arrived outside the town, I noticed that it was raining."

"Yeah, it's been raining for ages," Link said, shrugging. "So?"

"Link, the rain is only coming down inside this town! Not a drop falls outside the walls! That's not normal!" Malon said, her eyes boring into Link's.

Link frowned. That did seem weird, of course...but his head was still so fuzzy. He couldn't comprehend what Malon was getting at.

"Link!" Malon cried again, exasperated. "Did you hit your head or something? Who do we know who can create and control storms?!"

Now he got what she was trying to say. "Eliza? Mal...you know she's dead. I killed her, and she can't hurt us anymore. I think you might be over-reacting..."  
"No, I'm not! I've been having this feeling for a while, and...oh, let's just go, Link. Let's get out of here." Malon begged, tugging at his arm.

Link nodded; he could see that she was really scared, and they needed to go anyway.  
"Okay, let's go." He said, but then froze at the look on Malon's face. She looked petrified, and was staring over his shoulder in disbelief.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as blood-curdling screams sounded from behind him. He turned around quickly, looking back at the direction of the castle, and reeled back in shock at what he saw.

An army of Redead shuffled slowly across the plain towards the town, numbering in the hundreds. He had never seen so many Redead in his life. And leading them was a woman with short blonde hair, skimpily clad with a cape fluttering around her shoulders, pinned in the front with a red brooch. She advanced towards Link and Malon, her face a mixture of a smirk and a grimace, hatred flashing in her eyes. The color in her face was more ashen then it was when Link had last seen her.

"It's not-it can't be." Link whispered, gripped with fear.

"It's Eliza, Link." Malon sighed, clutching at his arm. Link felt immense relief that Malon was with him-otherwise he would think that he had finally snapped and gone crazy.

Eliza halted mere meters from the two of them, and held up a hand, unclenched. The Redead behind her all stopped advancing, and stood swaying on the spot, drooling and snarling and crying their horrible cries.

The woman cocked her head playfully, staring at Link.

"Surprised to see me, Link?" She said mockingly. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "You left me for dead, you know. No, more then that; you actually killed me. Now I think it's time I returned the favor."

* * *

**Um...Eliza? You're meant to be dead. So what are you doing? Heh. All shall be explained. **

**I think I'm throwing a lot of minor twists into the story lately, but don't worry: the plot won't get too convoluted, I don't think.**

**And for any of you who pay extreme attention to the story, you might have been able to pick up that Eliza was going to come back into the story. The clue I left is that it was raining in Hyrule Castle Town ever since Link was there. Now, story-wise, a lot of Link's time at Hyrule Castle Town took place while Malon was still captured at Lon Lon Ranch, and in the chapters focused on Malon it _never rained. _Lon Lon Ranch and Hyrule Castle Town are close enough so that you would think they would both be affected by rain at the same time.**

**But that's such a tiny clue that I don't expect anyone to have picked it up. There's also the fact that Eliza sent a storm after Link in the first few chapters (which Malon comments on in this chapter), and also the fact that Eliza is mentioned a lot in this chapter. I had to remind people of who she was before she came back into the story!**

**Oh, and even though Link's acting a bit weird and is hallucinating a bit, Eliza is still real, and so is Malon. I don't want to pull a "Malon was never there!" on you guys, or on myself for that matter. It's been like 8 chapters since Malon and Link were actually together, so I need them around each other. **

**(Sorry, I have a lot to comment on here). Also, for those of you who may be upset that Renna kisses Link in this chapter, I should remind you that this is a Malon and Link fan fiction, so...well, you can probably guess what's going to happen, because of that. I can't say anything more though.**

**There was a cool retro bit in this story, too. Anyone play "Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past"? Remember the first "boss" of the game, where you had to rescue Zelda from the prison? It was some armored guy with a ball-and-chain, who swung it around at you. The jailor in this story is a version of that guy...just a little nod to that game. I even included a pot that Link could throw at him. **

**I think that's it. But lastly, I would like to apologize to my readers for leaving this update for so long. I know it's been a while. Sometimes this stuff just happens, though. I will promise that I will never completely leave this story un-finished, though. I am very serious in completing it. **

**Okay. Leave a review, you guys! I sort of need to know that some people might still be interested in this story. And to all my author buddies, it would be good to hear from you!  
Till next time. **

**PS: There may be some mistakes in this chapter; I wanted to get it up as quick as I can, after all the delays. So, my apologies. I will of course go through the whole story at one point and fix up all the typos.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi everyone!**

**It's been a bit more then a month since chapter 12, but it's better than waiting three months like last time, right? (Nervous laughter)**

**This is an important chapter in the story, but far from the last, I think. The story will go on for longer then I had first anticipated...which I hope in your opinion is a good thing.**

**Lastly, a warning: there's a scene in this chapter which I think people will find disturbing (I know I did, writing it), but I really hope you still find this chapter exciting to read (can you tell I'm nervous about it? Heh.).

* * *

**

Moonlight shone down on the solitary tree in the valley, which stood still in the quiet air. An unnatural silence had descended upon the area, as if the world stood poised in expectance of some event. Then, from over a rise in the valley, a dark silhouette of a figure emerged, and heavy boots stamped down grass as the tall man strode forward towards the tree.

As the man took in the tree, his gaze fell down on the black puddles of blood that surrounded its base, and then finally his eyes settled on the mess of a figure that hung like a rag doll, pinned-no, _skewered_- to the bark of the tree by a sword that cut right through the middle of the person. Next to the hilt of the sword, the tail end of an arrow also stood out from the figure's chest.

The man frowned, but his outward appearance remained calm. Still, the sight of the witch's corpse in front of him caused a ripple of mild alarm to course through his body. He had come here expecting to find a corpse or two, yes, but not that of Eliza's.

Leaning forward, Ganondorf raised Eliza's sagging head with one hand, so that he could peer into her dead eyes. He smirked cruelly, and whispered, "Stupid girl. Come back to your master. I command you."

He let go of her head and stood back just before a stroke of lightning hammered down into the tree, appearing from nowhere. The witch's body jerked and jumped against the base of the tree as electricity coursed through it, and then slumped forward once again as the lightning fizzled out. Within the witch's body, her heart began to beat.

Suddenly, Eliza's body gasped in air, the blood bubbling in her throat, and her eyes shot open. Coughing and retching, she leaned forward, still stuck to the tree by the sword, and vomited blood.

After several seconds of spluttering and gasping, Eliza recovered enough to lift her head slightly, and saw Ganondorf standing calmly in front of her for the first time.

She licked her lips, struggling to speak.

"M-my Lord," she gasped. "Help me!"

Ganondorf's gaze was hard. "You want my help? Even though you know what I think of people who fail me?"

Eliza struggled to stay conscious, while her body tried to cope with wounds no normal person could survive. She tried to speak, but her strength failed her, and she could only shake her head helplessly.

Ganondorf leaned forward so that he stood eye-to-eye with the witch. "You belong to me, Eliza, and have served me well. That is why I evoked the dark spirits, and asked them to return your soul to your body. There is a price you have to pay for that, as you know. But now I wonder if it's even worth me keeping you around, when you can't even kill a teenager for me." Ganondorf's words came out in a whisper, and Eliza had to strain her ears to catch them.

"My Lord..." she breathed. "I got c-careless. It won't happen a-again. Please..."

Her head sank again, her strength failing her. Ganondorf appeared to think for a moment, and then with a cruel, sudden wrench he yanked clean the sword which pinned Eliza, causing her to scream out in agony and fall forward onto the dirt.

Tossing the sword aside, Ganondorf whistled shrilly and stood patiently as a dark steed thundered towards him down a wall of the valley. Eliza moaned and writhed on the ground, pain consuming her.

The steed halted next to Ganondorf and pawed the ground, its red eyes regarding its master. Leaping up onto the saddle, Ganondorf turned and snapped, "Get on, then. You will prove your worth to me, or I will kill you again myself."

Eliza somehow managed to get to her feet, and then clumsily climbed onto the horse, sitting behind her master. As Ganondorf spurred the horse into a gallop, the witch took a deep breath and pulled the arrow that was embedded in her chest free, clenching her teeth against the pain. She threw the arrow onto the ground as the horse climbed the valley, and finally another emotion cut through the pain-that of anger.

_He killed me. _She thought woozily, bitterly. _That brat actually killed me. _She clung to Ganondorf's back as dizziness swarmed over her once more.

_When I catch up with him I'll make him pay, _she swore to herself, but could think no more as she finally lost consciousness, her body sagging against Ganondorf's.

* * *

_This can't be happening. Not again. I thought it was over. Please no. _

Malon's mind was spinning, and she struggled to remain calm. In front of her, Eliza stood cockily in front of a few hundred Redead, and she couldn't decide what she feared more; all the Redead, or the fact that Eliza was somehow alive.

"You're dead. I killed you." Link said woodenly, standing next to her.

Malon glanced at him. He looked awful, and was swaying slightly on his feet; probably from the numerous cuts he had on his body, she figured.

The young witch smirked. "Feeling a bit under the weather, Link?" She teased. "And where have you come from, Malon? I didn't think you were in this town."

Malon remained silent, and gripped Link's hand in her own, trying to show him that, whatever was going to happen, she was with him.

Eliza seemed to be waiting for a response, but when none came she rolled her eyes, putting a hand on her hip.

"You two bore me. I mean, yes, I _was _dead-technically-but I'm also a witch. We deal with forces which you two could not comprehend, and in some cases certain..._people _may be called upon to grant someone a second chance of life." Eliza said.

Malon brushed her her wet hair away from her eyes, her hand trembling. She nudged Link, turning to him and whispering, "What can we do now?"

To her dismay however, Link was staring forward into nothingness, his eyes cloudy.

"Link!" She cried, shaking him. _What's wrong with you? Stay with me! I can't do this on my own._

Angrily, he brushed her away from him. "Renna, I'm trying to think! We need to rescue the prisoners somehow."

Malon stared at Link open-mouthed, her heart beating faster. "Link! It's me, _Malon! _Snap out of it!"

She turned back to Eliza to see that the witch was watching the scene with amusement.

"Oh, this is classic," Eliza cackled. "It seems that the idiot somehow picked up a bit of the dungeon's interrogation substance!"

Link shook his head, appearing to come out of his spell. "What was that? I picked up _what?"_ He demanded.

Eliza was still grinning. "The jailor of the dungeon uses a substance on whoever he's interrogating that makes his subject experience moments of unreality and forces them to experience moments of their past as if they are reliving them. It's quite useful for getting prisoners to blab on without them realizing it."

"I didn't take anything when I was in the dungeon!" Link said angrily.

"Oh dear boy, you don't _drink _this stuff. Normally it's applied to weapons or instruments of torture. That way it can be cut directly into the blood stream, like a poison." Eliza said mockingly.

Malon watched Link freeze. He turned to her, his expression horrified.

"When I was...fighting the jailor, I was thrown onto a table of instruments...they must have been coated with that stuff," he said gloomily, glancing down at his bleeding arms.

Malon bit her lip. "Link...I don't know what to do. Help me." She begged him.

Link gave her hand a squeeze. "It's okay. I'm scared too. But we can get through this, okay, Navi?"

Malon's heart sank as she realized that Link's eyes had that far-away look about them again. He was reliving the past once more.

"Oh my, looks like he can't even stay focused on the present." Eliza gloated. "Killing him now would be far too easy. Not that you'll hear me complaining." She said, and began striding towards Malon and Link. The Redead all remained where they were, drooling and growling.

_I'm on my own, _Malon realized with dread. She slowly placed a hand behind her back and took hold of the crossbow she had clipped to her belt, the one she had carried with her since leaving her ruined farm. Briefly she wondered where Sheik was at the moment-she had left his company just outside the drawbridge leading into the town, for he had not wanted to enter the town.

She forced herself to concentrate, as Eliza approached Link and her. Even if she managed to shoot down the witch, there was still the matter of the hundreds of awaiting Redead to contend with. She assumed that, once Eliza fell, the Redead would all attack, but could think of no way to save herself and Link from them.

"Time to die!" Eliza sang gleefully, now right in front of them.

Malon shrugged, unclipped the crossbow and brought it around to her front, and fired.

Two bolts sprang forward, heading straight towards the suddenly startled witch...and then in mid-flight, just before hitting the witch, both bolts ricocheted away, as if they had hit a force field which surrounded Eliza. Small bolts of lightning flickered in the air around the witch, who's expression went from stunned to triumphant.

Malon could only stare, dumb-struck, as Eliza laughed.

"Sneaky!" She howled, laughing."I wasn't expecting a crossbow! However, after our last encounter, I decided to take some measures to protect myself from any projectiles. I'm surrounded by a field of lighting, which should protect me from anything you can throw at me."

Taking quick strides forward suddenly, Eliza reached Malon before she could react and back-handed her roughly across the face, throwing her to the ground.

Malon lay dazed in the mud, her face aching, and stared up helplessly at Eliza.

"Stupid girl. I'm going to fry you with lightning until you explode." She snarled down at Malon, her eyes dancing with malice.

Suddenly, Link's hand closed around Eliza's arm roughly, going through the invisible layer of lightning and causing both himself and the witch to be zapped slightly.

"Ow! Unhand me, you drugged-up idiot!" Eliza snapped, sounding more annoyed then worried.

"I am so _sick _of Ganondorf's filth coming after me," Link yelled at the witch, causing her to recoil from the force of his words.

"I don't really care if you think you're like me, because you're _not_. When I kill, it's to protect people. You seem to get pleasure out of killing for _fun_-that soldier you shot was twice the man you are. And tonight, I will avenge his death." Link hissed, and Malon, watching him from the ground, noticed that he seemed to be looking through Eliza at something else-something from his past, no doubt.

She felt a sad sense of defeat; there was no way for them to get out of this one. Not with her crossbow being useless, and Link being not quite there.

She looked up at Link again, who still had Eliza's arm in his grip, and she realized that he was _furious, _so much so that his body was shaking with anger.

_What was he remembering?_

* * *

Link tried to sort his cloudy mind out, tried to regain a sense of _reality_, but it was so hard. He kept flashing between locations; he would be moving through a dungeon with Navi at one moment, and the next he might be diving from the top of a waterfall, and then he would find himself standing in the rain, the witch Eliza in front of him, surrounded by Redead. 

But what was the real reality? Where was he right now? He wished he could stop and gather his thoughts, but everything was happening so _fast. _

Now, he was standing on a roof, shaking with rage and looking down at his clone, Dark Link, who just before had shot Scray with an arrow. Or was he staring at Eliza...what was real?

There was no time to hesitate, for Dark Link had rolled to his feet, and was circling him, his sword drawn and ready. And at the same time, Eliza shook off his hand, took a step back, and began drawing lightning out of the air around her, causing bolts to crackle between her fingers.

Link dimly heard Malon cry out a warning, but he couldn't decide which of the two enemies he was facing was the illusion, couldn't make sense of anything.

With a flash, Eliza appeared in front of him again, and sent a stream of lightning from her fingers towards him suddenly. With a cry he rolled to the right, and the lightning thudded into the ground next to him, the sparks jumping several feet along the ground.

Another flash, and Dark Link was charging at him now, bringing his sword down in a sweeping arc. Link tried to raise his sword to block the un-coming attack, but he was too slow, and he braced himself as the sword cut into him, waiting for the pain...only to feel nothing.

_Dark Link's not here! So where am I? _He thought wildly, spinning around to see Eliza once again, and now the witch was preparing another lightning bolt.

He charged at her, seeing no other course of action, and the witch released the lightning. It streaked towards him, and he swung his sword at it, hoping for the best. Lightning and sword connected, and Link was forced to let go of his weapon as a shocking sensation traveled up his arms.

Eliza laughed triumphantly, seeing him disarmed, and Link could do nothing but groggily sink to his knees on the floor. He naively hoped that this was just a dream and he would wake up unharmed, but he didn't think that was going to be the case, somehow.

_Didn't I kill Eliza, anyway? _He thought groggily, as the witch prepared the killing lightning bolt. _Oh well, not that it matters; nothing here is making much sense. _

A movement slightly behind him caught his eye, and he turned his head idly to see Dark Link come running at him once more, sword-in-hand. _He's not real, _he had to remind himself.

Dark Link reached him, Eliza let fly the lightning stream, and Link, his face already drawn into a wince, waited for a lot of pain. That's why he was surprised when Dark Link side-stepped in front of him, a silver shield raised, and blocked the bolt of lightning, which fizzled out upon hitting the shield.

Link looked up in confusion as Dark Link stood over him protectively, glaring at Eliza with feral intensity in his eyes.

_Okay, now _this _is crazy. _

* * *

Malon had watched helplessly as Eliza began to hurl lightning strikes at the disoriented Link. Climbing to her feet, she wanted to go to Link's aid somehow...but between the lightning crackling everywhere, and Link himself stabbing wildly with his sword, rolling and dodging, she couldn't see anyway to help Link without getting herself killed. 

But then she was forced to act, as she watched as Link was disarmed and rendered helpless by a lightning bolt. Running towards her fallen friend, she could think of no other option to protect Link from another lightning attack, then to leap in front of his body, using her body as a shield in order to save him. She would die, but Link was far more important to Hyrule than she was.

She was almost alongside Link when she was surprised by the sight of someone else running next to her, and about to over-take her. She got a glimpse of black clothes before the person shoved her backwards, away from Link, causing her to fall back into the mud. She looked up in shock as the stranger jumped in front of Link, a shield at the ready, just in time to save him from the lightning Eliza had released.

The stranger turned his head towards Malon, and it was all she could do to stop herself gasping aloud in shock; the person looked exactly like Link! The only differences were that he had black hair instead of blonde, and red eyes instead of blue, and he was clad all in black.

Link's dead-ringer smirked at her, but his eyes also held a hint of apprehension.

"If I were you, girl, I'd get out of here." He advised her dryly.

As stunned as she was, it took her a few seconds to find any words. "I'm not leaving him." She finally said. She also wanted to ask him who-or what-he was, but thought better of it: now wasn't really the time for a conversation.

At her words, Link's look-a-like rolled his eyes in disgust. "Ugh, why are people always so damn _loyal _to him? Makes me sick."

_Then why did you help him? What's going on? _Malon's mind screamed, but she was prevented from voicing her questions as Eliza began to scream at Link's rescuer.

"What the hell are you doing? Move aside, you stupid servant, and let me finish him off!" She roared, turning red in the face.

The teenager did not budge. Meanwhile, Malon could see that Link was watching the scene unfold around him with a quizzical expression on his face.

"I was created to kill Link." The teenager spoke slowly. "That is my one and only purpose in life. Thus, I will not stand by and watch some lowly witch do my job for me."

_That doesn't sound good_, Malon thought. _Obviously this guy doesn't have Link's best interest in mind. _She looked around her, and saw that her crossbow was lying but a few feet away in the mud. She snatched it up, seeing that she only had a couple of bolts left. She readied the weapon, in case Link's "rescuer" suddenly turned on Link.

Eliza turned ever redder in the face. "What?!" She screamed, but then instead of flying into an even greater rage, she seemed to calm herself.

"Fine," she relented. "I won't kill him. I'm sure Ganondorf will still reward me appropriately if I allow you to finish off the brat. Go ahead, Dark Link." She sneered nastily.

Dark Link turned and examined Link, his eyes taking in the state of his body.

"Finish him off, like _this?" _He said, his lip curling up. He turned to Eliza. "Look at him. His body is torn, and his mind wanders. Killing him now would rob me of any sense of justified revenge. No. When I finally kill him, it will be after I take him down in a fair fight. That way I will prove my worth, my strength."

Malon could see that Eliza was struggling to keep herself from exploding. "You worthless-"she spluttered, and then stopped herself, shaking her head. "Okay, whatever. I won't kill him now, but you _will _hand him over to me. I'll throw him in the dungeon, and you can wait until the substance that is affecting his mind wears off, and then you can have your fight."

Dark Link barked out a laugh. "Where's the fun in that? Kill a cornered rat in a dungeon? I refuse. You will let Link go free today, and I will hunt him down for you and bring you his corpse."

Eliza's patience ran out. "You're insane!" She accused. She turned to face the waiting hordes of Redead. "All of you, attack the Hero and his friend! And kill the traitor along with them!"

As a group, the Redead sprang forward, moaning and drooling in blood-lust.

Malon scrambled to her feet, her crossbow in one hand, and with the other she pulled Link up from the ground.

Link groggily picked up the Master Sword, his eyes on the massing Redead.

"Too many," he said decisively. "Saria, I think I'll need all four bottles filled with fairies, thank you."

_Poor Link, _Malon thought sadly. _We're going to die, and he won't even be able to understand what's happening. _

Just then, Dark Link held up a hand. "Stop!" He commanded the monsters, and to Malon's amazement they all halted immediately.

"Don't listen to him! Kill them!" Eliza shrieked.

"This quarry is mine alone! You won't touch him!" Dark Link yelled, and the Redead all remained rooted to the spot, mumbling to themselves in confusion.

Eliza advanced on the three teenagers, quivering with rage. "I'll kill you myself, you reject of a spell!" She roared.

"Now you're talking!" Dark Link shot back defiantly.

Turning to Malon, he twirled his sword in one hand and hefted his shield up. "Girl, take pretty-boy here and get out while you can. I won't be able to hold her-or the Redead- back for long."

Malon nodded numbly, and grabbed Link by his free hand.

"Don't let him die! I will collect his soul myself!" Dark Link shouted after her, as she ran into the town, away from the clearing.

Before they were out of eye-shot, Malon turned her head to look behind her, and saw Dark Link running at Eliza, screaming a battle cry. Lightning, combatants and sword collided, but then the scene was lost to her as she rounded a building and concentrated on running.

* * *

"Why are we running?" Link asked her, panting as she dragged him along through the abandoned streets. 

"Never you mind, just keep up!" She told him, trying to find the fastest route back to the entrance of the town.

A howling noise shook the air, and she turned around to see that a group of Redead were already hot on their pursuit, and were moving faster than the speed Redead normally moved at.

"Run! Faster!" She urged link, picking up her speed. She guessed that Dark Link wouldn't be able to control the Redead while fighting Eliza, and supposed that it wouldn't be long before all of the hundreds of Redead were pouring through the town.

_Where there survivors left in the town? _She thought. If there were, the Redead would massacre them all. But she hadn't seen a living soul on her way through the town when she first arrived, and she couldn't waste any time searching the ruined buildings for anyone.

The howling noise sounded again, and she looked over her shoulder to see with a shock that several Redead were only a few meters behind her and Link.

_They're too fast! _She thought wildly, and in her panic the hand holding Link's slipped, and Link suddenly turned left down a side street. The Redead all turned and went after Link.  
"Link! Come back!" Malon screamed after him, but he kept running away, unhurriedly.

She was about to go after him when another Redead, coming out of the shadows, grabbed her arm, and a mouth full of teeth loomed towards her neck.

She screamed and jammed her crossbow into the creature's leathery neck, squeezing the trigger. The remaining bolts thudded into its skin, and the creature let go off her arm and reeled back with a horrifying scream that was echoed by other Redead near-by.

Malon turned right and ran down the nearest street, going blind in her terror. Behind her she could hear the sound of more Redead giving chase. At her side she carried the crossbow, now depleted of ammo.

_Where do I run? What do I do? _She thought desperately, her feet sliding in the mud as she ran.

"Link!" She cried out, close to tears. "Help me! Link!" She knew that, even if Link somehow did hear her, he was in no position to do anything to help her, and he was probably in greater danger than she was. But she just didn't know what else do to.  
"Help!!"

* * *

At first Link was _almost _sure he was running to get to the Great Deku Tree, but now he suspected that wasn't the case. He found himself instead running down a narrow street, the rain thudding into the top of his head, and Redead were jumping out at him from every shadowy nook and cranny. He swung his sword left and right, cutting down two Redead which were leaping for his neck. 

Stumbling around a corner, he failed to see another Redead coming for him, and the impact from the creature sent him falling through an open door and into a dark, dusty shop. The creature pinned him to the floor and sought to take a chunk out of his arm, but Link managed to slice off the top of its head before it could latch on to him.

The Redead fell back off him, and he scrambled up and threw the front door of the shop closed before any more monsters had the chance to run through the door-way. He slumped down on the floor with his back to the door, panting and gasping.

That was when he heard the voice cry out. "Help!!"

_Malon! _She was still out there, wasn't she?

He was about to make himself get up and run outside to help, when his mind threatened to drag him back into his past yet again.

He held his head in his hands, rocking back and forth. _No! Stay here! Focus!_

But it was useless, and in a few seconds his mind had drifted away again. He slumped forward onto the floor of the shop (he could see that it was a shop because of all the empty bottles stacked on shelves), and soon forgot about anything that was happening outside.

"This is a pretty nice swimming hole isn't it, Navi?" He spoke dreamily to the empty shop.

Outside, Redead hammered against the door and windows, growing in numbers as more and more joined in and added their weight to the attack.

"Look!" Navi said to him, floating over to a bottle half-full of a blue liquid which was lying next to the lake Link was swimming in.

Link shrugged his shoulders at the fairy. "So? Someone must have left that here." He said idly, trying to relax in the water.

"No, look Link!" Navi repeated, circling the bottle.

He frowned. "Navi, cut it out. I don't care."

Now the fairy rolled the bottle towards him. "Drink it, Link!" She commanded in her high-pitched, occasionally annoying voice.

"Drink that?" He mumbled into the floorboards of the shop. "No way, there's no telling what that could be."

The bottle rolled to a stop right next to his cheek.  
"Please, Link. For me?" Navi pleaded.

_She's acting weird today, _Link thought, perplexed. The sounds of glass and wood breaking behind him went un-noticed.

He shrugged once more, taking the small bottle in his hand.

"Okay, okay. If it'll shut you up..." He groaned, and downed the liquid in one swallow.

He smacked his lips, staring at the bottle in his hand. There was writing on the side of the bottle: "Elixir". A cure-all.

"Hey, Navi, this is-" He began, looking up. But Navi wasn't there. Instead, he found himself in a darkened shop. Outside, the sound of rain and animal moans mingled together.

Navi had never been there, he realized. He had been hallucinating. He looked back down at the bottle. _But my mind is clear now, _he thought miraculously.

Strength returned to his body, as he finally found he could think straight once more. Picking up his sword, he stood slowly to face the door to the shop, which was splintering and bucking under the force of the Redead's assault.

The door burst open, and Redead swarmed into the shop. The first monster that rushed at Link was divided into two halves as the Master Sword swung through the air. The other Redead didn't fare much better.

* * *

The group of Redead all dealt with, Link walked to the exit of the house, carefully stepping over the bodies of the monsters, all sprawled over the floor. 

Emerging from the desolate shop and back into the rain, Link turned and quickly examined the building. It was a potion shop, as he had expected.

That meant that the elixir he had drank must have been left behind by the owner of the shop accidentally.

He shook his head in wonderment. How lucky had he been to realize that he had to drink the potion to cure himself?

_But it wasn't my idea to drink the potion, _he answered himself. _It was Navi's. _

And that just raised more questions: had his subconscious been telling him to drink the potion, or had he just been extremely lucky that, in his delirium, he just happened to get the idea to drink it himself?

Or...(and here he shivered, and not because of the rain) had something more _spiritual _occurred? Navi was a _fairy, _after all. Was she somehow still watching over him, even in death? He shook his head again, shaking himself mentally. He wasn't sure where Navi was, or even if she was alive or dead. He just knew that what happened to Navi was his fault, and that he didn't want to think about it. Besides, this was hardly the time or the place...

A scream shook the air, causing his head to come up.

_That sounded like Malon! _

He took off at once, heading in the direction that the scream had come from.

"Malon!" He shouted, skidding around a corner and into an open plaza. "I'm coming!"

He spotted a bunch of Redead near a ruined fountain, and ran over to them, his sword at the ready. They all seemed pre-occupied with something, and were kneeling over something on the ground, biting and fighting each other for room to...

...feed...

As Link came closer to the scene his mind seemed to freeze, and the world moved into slow motion as he saw what the Redead were eating.

It only took a second for him to recognize Malon's crossbow lying in the mud next to the still figure of a person that the Redead were feeding on.

_No_

An overwhelming sickness filled his body, and he staggered in his step, coming closer to the carnage.

_No no please no_

He lifted the sword as one of the Redead turned its blood-stained mouth to him and shrieked in alarm.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" He screamed, his voice barely human.

He fell in among the creatures, swinging his sword wildly, cutting at anything he could reach.

A red mist enveloped his vision, and as more and more Redead fell by his sword, a couple of the creatures, shrieking in terror, actually started to run away from him in blind panic.

Link let them go, and fell to his knees next to the bloody corpse the Redead had left behind.

_Maybe it's not her. Not Malon_

He prayed that he had been mistaken in recognizing her body. Perhaps she had only dropped her crossbow here, and the Redead had been eating a large dog, or maybe even one of their own.

_But it's human_

He could tell, glancing at the body. He forced himself to look at the face, but it was mangled beyond any recognition.

_It's a girl, oh no oh god it's a girl_

Bile rose in his throat, and he scrambled away from the body on hands and knees quickly. Several meters away from the body he threw up explosively, retching and gagging. His throat burned painfully, and tears streamed now down his face.

After several minutes of sobbing and retching, he finally made himself wipe the throw-up from the corners of his mouth, and he rolled onto his back in the rain, his body exhausted from crying.

A body splashed into the mud next to him, gasping and reaching for him.

He cursed and sprang up to his hands and knees, scrambling forward in the mud towards his sword.

_More Redead, well you'll pay. You filthy murderers_

He heard more gasping, mixed with some other noise, and then the Redead was on his back, pulling him away from his sword.

"You'll die I'll kill you KILL YOU kill you" he shouted unintelligibly, straining forward against the weight of his attacker, even though he had spent most of his strength during his berserk attack against the Redead.

He suddenly realized that the other noise the Redead was making were from it sobbing.

_Redead don't cry._ He thought, confused.

He turned around quickly, and the Redead slid off his back to kneel before him in the mud.

Only, of course, it wasn't a Redead. He saw red hair, a round face wet with tears, and large blue eyes which held his own in them.

_Malon?_

"M-no, I-" he stammered, almost refusing to believe his eyes. What if he was seeing things again, and Malon was still dead? He couldn't deal with that added pain.

She threw her arms around him, pulled him in close, clutching him almost painfully tight.

"I'm here, Link." She whispered.

He clutched her back, a wonderful, impossible sense of relief filling his body.

_I thought you were gone, _he was about to say to her, when she spoke first.

"I'm sorry, Link. I'm so sorry, I couldn't do anything." Malon wailed, sobbing out of control.

Link's body froze. What was she saying?

"What?" He asked her stupidly, the sense of dread returning like a cold blanket over his body, chilling his bones.

Malon pulled away from him and placed her hands on both sides of his face, her eyes locked onto his.

"Listen to me, Link. Are you here, with me? Or are you still hallucinating?" She asked him, her voice imploring.

"I-I'm fine now," he managed to say. "What do you want to tell me? Who's body is that over there?"

Fresh tears spilled down Malon's cheeks.

"I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen to me. She said she knew you, and wanted to find you and save you from the Redead...she ran away from me, Link! I ran after her, but then the Redead attacked us. I had no weapon! I got away, but she-" Malon broke down, sobbing hysterically.

Against his will, Link turned his head to look back at the body, lying in the rain and mud.

_She had been eaten alive_

He was in shock. He tried to shut out the image of the Redead feeding, but it kept returning fresh to his mind.

Malon tried to speak again, gulping noisily.

"She said...her name...Renna..." she sobbed, telling Link what he already knew.

_Who else would have returned for him? _He thought woodenly, staring into the distance as Malon cried loudly.

Anger filled him again. _Why had she been so stupid? Why hadn't she stayed with the other villagers? _

_Because she wanted to save me. Malon must have told them what state I was in, so she wanted to bring me back herself._

He stood up quickly, startling Malon. Picking up the Master Sword, he wordlessly turned to face Hyrule Castle.

Malon scrambled up next to him.

"No, Link. Don't! She's gone. If you go back there, you'll die, do you hear me?" She shouted at him.

He remained expressionless.

She whirled him around with her hands roughly so he faced her.

"Listen! She died trying to save _you. _Don't throw that away! I know it hurts...I can hardly breathe myself. But we need to get to the drawbridge, _now. _The villagers are all there, and they can't get out, Link! They need you! _I _need you!" Malon cried, her tears flowing.

Before another word could be spoken, they both heard the cacophony of moans, and spinning around, they saw a huge group of Redead shuffle into the courtyard.

"We need to go, Link." Malon whispered to him. "Come on."

Link's eyes went back to Renna's husk of a body.

"I can't leave her like this. They'll eat her. She...deserves a burial, Malon..." He whispered painfully.

The Redead spotted the two of them, and sprang forward.

Malon placed her hand in Link's.

"There's n-no time. You know we wouldn't be able to carry her all the way back to the drawbridge and still be able to out-run those things...please...Link..." Malon begged him, not looking him in the eyes.

The only thing that persuaded Link to leave was the thought that he couldn't risk Malon's life for a

_-a body-_

he could barely even _think _the word.

Wordlessly he and Malon left the plaza at a run, hand-in-hand, and the only thing keeping them going was each other.

* * *

When they reached the area that lay just before the drawbridge, Link was surprised to see a group of wagons, all harnessed with horses, gathered around. The villagers-numbering far more now that the ex-prisoners had joined the Resistance-were all waiting nervously around. 

"There you are!" A voice boomed out, making Link start.

Rupert jumped down from a wagon and jogged over to Malon and him, a nervous grin on his bearded face.

"We were starting to get _really _worried," Rupert admitted. "For your safety, of course, but also because-well, take a look at _that._" He said, indicating the exit to the town.

Link looked, and saw the reason why the villagers couldn't simply drive out of the town: even while the drawbridge was down and the way was technically clear, there was also a shimmering, mostly transparent red field of energy blocking the way.

"A barrier?" Link guessed. His voice still felt raw and scratchy from crying, and he was also feeling very confused from Rupert's behaviour. The man, while looking anxious, seemed otherwise fine.

But shouldn't he be asking where Renna was? Didn't he see her when she led the prisoners to the Resistance? He would have been shocked to find that she was alive, and now should have been worried to see that she hadn't returned from the town.

"Yep, that's exactly what it is." Rupert answered, breaking through his thoughts. "I guess Ganondorf and his men don't want us going anywhere. We've tried everything we can think of, but we can't get through. Heck, we can't even _dent _it. That's why I was sort of waiting on your return, hoping you had some way to get us out."

Link nodded, feeling numb. He licked his lips nervously.

"I'll get on it. Give me a second, though." He muttered.

Rupert gave him a concerned look. "That's fine," he said. "But you might want to hurry, because at the moment we're trapped between that barrier and the on-coming Redead."

Link nodded again, and then turned and took Malon to one side, away from Rupert's hearing.

"Why isn't he worried about Renna?" He asked her. "He's her father! When you came here, did she say anything about meeting with him or anything?"

Malon shook her head firmly. "Link, I never got as far as this. When I met that girl she was already coming back through the town, looking for you."

Link frowned, the huge sadness returning. _I guess she didn't see her father when she led the prisoners here. _He thought. _But, after how things turned out, maybe it was better that she hadn't seen him. He obviously doesn't know that she had still been alive, so he's been spared the pain of losing her again. _

From the town, near-by, he heard the terribly cry of the Redead. The villagers all started talking loudly, sobbing and panicking.

"Come on," he told Malon, taking her hand and leading her into the middle of the wagons. Rupert followed them, nervously looking behind his shoulder at the shadowy buildings of the town.

"Make sure all the wagons and villagers are ready to go," Link warned Rupert. "I don't know if I'll be able to get through the barrier: all I can think of is to try attacking it with the Master Sword. If I can't get though...then I don't know what will happen."

Rupert nodded, and issued commands to the villagers.

Suddenly Link remembered something important, his heart jumping wildly.  
"Wait! I've forgotten Epona! My horse!" He cried in despair. The last time he saw her, she had been in a stable in the town.

Rupert chuckled. "Don't worry, we got her. She's leading a wagon over there," he said, indicating to his right.

Link almost fainted with relief.

"Oh, what about Scray?" He asked worriedly. "He was unconscious when I last saw him..."

Rupert nodded his head. "Yeah, we had to carry him out here. He's in the back of the same wagon that Epona is leading, so don't worry."

Link turned to Malon. "You have to get in a wagon-Epona's wagon, if you want-because we need to be ready to bolt as soon as that barrier goes down."

If _it goes down, _he thought miserably to himself.

The sound of the Redead coming closer filled his ears, so Malon didn't argue with him. She just nodded, hugged him, and ran off to the wagon.

Link turned and ran at the barrier blocking the exit, and at the same time behind him he heard the sounds of the Redead catching up to the wagons. People started to scream shrilly, and the horses kicked and reared.

_If this doesn't work, we're all dead. _Link thought, bringing the Master Sword down in a sweeping arc against the barrier.

The barrier held, and the screams behind Link intensified.

Defeat gripped him. He had failed everyone.

He couldn't turn around. He didn't have the courage to watch the massacre.

Futilely, he used all his remaining strength to slam the sword into the barrier again...and it shattered.

He turned, exalted, and screamed, "It's down! GO!"

He didn't have to repeat himself.

Whips were cracked in unison, and the horses sprang forward in terror, pulling the wagons behind them, the villagers all holding on for their lives.

Link quickly realized he had a problem: he was standing directly in the path of the on-coming wagons.

With a cry he rolled to the side as the first of the wagons thundered past him. He stood shakily to one side as the rest of the wagons-they numbered around ten-rushed past him, and then turned to make sure that everyone had left the clearing.

Only, when he looked back, there wasn't really a _clearing _left. The whole area was swarming with Redead, and with a shock he realized that they were all heading towards him, the only one left.

"Link!" He heard Malon scream frantically.

Turning, he ran through the exit of the town and across the drawbridge, panting and gasping from the effort. Behind him, hordes of Redead wailed after him hungrily, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up.

Ahead of him, one of the wagons had braked and was waiting for him. He could see Malon in the back under the covered tarp, holding out a hand to him and calling his name.

At the last moment he almost fell, but fear kept him going, and suddenly he found himself within an arm's reach of Malon. He reached out his hand, grabbed hers, and jumped up into the back of the wagon, the high tarp above him covering him from the rain.

"Go!" Malon screamed at whoever was driving the wagon, and they leapt forward, just before the Redead could grab a hold of the back of the carriage and pull themselves up.

Link sank onto the floor of the wagon, his breath coming out in painful wheezes, as their wagon thundered down the cobblestone path, away from what was left of Hyrule Castle Town.

* * *

Eliza could hardly believe her ears when a scout reported that, inexplicably, all of the Resistance and the prisoners, along with Link, had escaped the town. 

"Th-The barrier just wasn't built to withstand an attack from the Master Sword," the scout said, trembling before the witch's fury.

"Is Ganondorf still away from the castle?" She asked the soldier, her eyes closed.

"Yes mistress."

"Good. He is not to hear of this, understood? Order your men to keep their mouths shut. In the mean-time, I shall rectify the mistake and bring Link back to the castle, alive or dead."

The soldier saluted and hurried away, and Eliza, gritting her teeth, held a hand over a nasty cut in her upper arm.

Dark Link had gotten off some good attacks, the stupid dead fool. She only wished she could have been there to see the Redead tear him to pieces.

Sweeping her cape behind her, she turned to walk back to the castle and begin preparations to go after Link again herself.

* * *

In the wagon, Link struggled to keep his mind off Renna; the pain was too great. 

Near the front of the driver's carriage, which was hidden from his view by the tarp that covered the back of the wagon, lay Scray, stretched out on a make-shift bed.

The young soldier was breathing easily, and a healthy glow had returned to his cheeks, he was relieved to see.

"Link?" Malon asked, tentatively.

"Hmm?" Link said, but didn't look at her.

"You can let go of your sword now." She said softly.

He looked down and realized that his hand was still curled tightly around the hilt of the sword.

"Oh. Sorry." He mumbled, but didn't let go of the sword.

Malon eased his fingers off the hilt with her hand, setting the sword down on the floor of the wagon next to him.

She moved close to him and began to softly kiss his cheek, his forehead, his mouth.

After a minute she stopped, and gently eased his body into a lying position. She lay next to him and put her arm around his body, and lay still.

Link was glad. The kisses had felt wonderful, but his mind was a mess. He wouldn't have been able to return her affections; not right now.

"I'm here for you, okay Link?" Malon whispered. "As a friend, or as...whatever. I need you now, and I'm not leaving you to suffer through this alone."

They lay in silence, and Link listened to the soft rumbling of the wagon's wheels as they traveled over a grassy area.

"Thank you, Malon." He finally whispered.

He closed his eyes, concentrating on the warmth and protection of Malon's body next to his. Somehow, he began to drift away to sleep, even with Renna's image in his mind.

* * *

Dark Link lay motionless, struggling to breathe. He could feel that his wounds were severe-Eliza had fought with animal intensity, and he had barely been able to escape from her at the end. He could swear that his hair was standing on end, from all the lightning that bitch had managed to throw at him. 

He needed to scratch his nose so _badly_, but with his face almost entirely covered with bandages, it was hard to scratch the itch.

Next to him, a middle-aged woman held his hand reassuringly, smiling down at him.

"It's okay now, dear. We'll soon be safe again!" She breathed happily.

He forced himself to smile up at her, the skin around his eyes crinkling slightly.

"Praise the goddess!" He sang. "We are truly blessed."

The woman nodded happily, and turned away from him to talk to another villager.

The smile instantly vanished from his face.

_Stupid woman. _

After the battle with Eliza he had been chased through the town by the Redead, who were beyond his control in his weakened state. He had thought he was done for, when miraculously he had stumbled upon the Resistance members...and the waiting wagons.

After that it was just a matter of disguising his face and pulling himself up into the back of one of the wagons. Of course, no-one noticed the addition to their ranks, and no-one ever saw his face.

He fingered the edge of his sword which he had hidden underneath his body. _Thanks for getting me out of that mess, Link. _He thought. _I knew you could do it. But I think you'll be very surprised when you feel my blade against your throat in a few days' time. _The thought made him grin.

_Now, if only this damn woman would leave me be, _he thought grumpily.

His body rocked as the wagon headed towards Kakariko Village, situated in the middle of the line of wagons in the night, slowly heading towards safety.

* * *

**So much happened in this chapter, and it was particularly gloomy, I suppose you could say. I would definitely label this particular chapter as a "horror" bit to the story.**

**I tried to include a few mildly funny parts, to offset the death. When Link is delirious, I made a joke about him needing "all his bottles filled with fairies". Anyone who has played the games should know what this means: the fairies bring you back to life in the game, obviously.  
Also, the reason I don't have fairies in bottles in the actual story is that it would be a bit...unfair to have Link carry around life-insurance with him, and it would take away part of the suspense. If Link could just use a fairy whenever he wanted, no-one would ever die!**

**I even had him mention "Saria", and I hope I got the spelling for her name right. I'm pretty sure I do, but am too lazy to check.**

**I really enjoyed writing the parts where Link was hallucinating, and it was nice to write about Navi some more. Some people have asked if I will ever explain what happened to Navi, and the answer is, of course I will.**

**What I _didn't _enjoy was writing about Renna's death. It wasn't a pleasant part of the story, and I hope I didn't upset or put off any of my readers.**

**Oh yeah, and I should also mention that I broke away from conventional sentence structure for some parts of the chapter, particularly when Link sees the body. I wanted to portray the way Link's mind was working as the scene unfolded...any writing that is in "italics", as most people should know, usually indicates someone's thoughts.**

**Writing the scene, I thought that a lot of readers would automatically think "oh, that's not going to be Malon's body-just because her crossbow is there it doesn't mean that it's her", and then you would expect the body to belong to some minor character and it be a huge relief to Link...then I wanted to hit Link with the fact that it wasn't Malon's body, but-and almost just as bad-it was Renna. So the relief was quickly followed with just as much dread.**

**Phew.**

**In the reviews, a few people have pointed out that Link is left-handed. I think I forgot that fact when I started writing this story, so in earlier chapters there will be some mistakes about that. But now, when Link is fighting, you should assume that he is using his left hand mostly. I kind of picture Link as ambidextrous, anyway. **

**I can't predict when the next chapter will be up, because of the holidays and stuff, but I will say I will get it up as soon as I can, and that it will be a lot lighter then this one was. I hate to leave you guys for the holiday season with such a gloomy chapter! Oh well.**

**_Finally, _thanks to everyone who reads this story, who leaves reviews, who encourages me to continue writing it. I haven't been replying personally to the reviews lately because of my busy schedule, but I read them all closely, and some of your comments are really insightful! So keep them coming, especially for this chapter. I want to know what you think of it especially...**

**Anyway, I'm off. As always, sorry for rambling so much. Happy holidays! **


End file.
